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i he Land of Canaan 



Rev, Edward R, Kelley 




Class 1 . 

Boofc_ K ^/ 

GopyrightN _ 



CSSSRIGHT DEPOSm 




Rev. Edward R. Kelley 



The Land Of Canaan 

by 

Rev- Edward R. Kelley 



Author of 



"Messages From The Prophets". 

"Paul's Great Prayers". 

"The Tabernacle". 



Copyrighted 1922 
The Christian Witness Co. 



Chicago 
The Christian Witness Go. 



-&**' 

.*** 



45 



A FOREWORD 



The writer is convinced that too many of the 
holiness people are merely skimming the sur- 
face of God's power and simply living along 
the borders of Canaan. It is for the purpose- 
of aiding those who will, to go further into the 
Land and possess their possessions, that these 
messages are sent forth. In "The Land of 
Canaan' ' we do not advocate a third, fourth or 
fifth blessing, but feeling assured that we have 
not as yet attained unto all God has for us here 
in this life, we pray that the reader may be 
greatly blest and enriched in his own personal 
experience, and that he may "go from glory 
unto glory;" then will we be more than paid 
for these messages. 



In holy love, 

Edward E. Kelley. 



Laclede, Missouri. 



JAN 14*24 

C1A766743 
"ft© I 



DEDICATION 

To the memory of my sainted father, a loyal 
Methodist and a Christian gentleman, is this 
little book dedicated. 

Laclede, Missouri. 



THE LAND OP CANAAN 
CHAPTER I 

Starting Out 

"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get, 
thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, 
and from thy father's house, unto a land that 
I will show thee. * * * So Abram departed, as 
the Lord had spoken unto him." Genesis 12: 
1, 4. 

It is not my purpose to give you a sermon on 
the life and charocter of God's friend — Abra- 
ham, a You have heard ibettter ones than I 
could bring you. But it is my purpose to draw 
such lessons from this incident that may be 
used of the Holy Ghost to draw us near*- to 
God and show us our real need and p? Uege 
in Christ Jesus. 

This incident, to me, beautifully typifies *he 
soul's setting out for the Land of Canaan. And 
if you will follow me closely you will be able 
to see very clearly the steps taken by this man 
of faith, which conveys to us the steps neces- 
sary for us to take that we too might enter into 
the Canaan of perfect love. 



6 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

Let us study closely some of the essential 
steps which God intends for us to take. 

I. Note the Act of Separation. "Get thee 
out of thy country, and from thy kindred and 
from thy father's house." God is never too 
exacting in any of his requirements. They are 
all for our good. And I do not believe I am 
wrong when I say that these simple words, 
"Get thee out," were the key-note of Abra- 
ham's life. And, too, they are the key-word 
which leads us up and into the experience of 
full salvation and the life of holiness. If we 
are ever to obtain the experience of entire sanc- 
tification we must separate ourselves from sin, 
from the world, the flesh, and the devil. 

Let us notice briefly the steps of the separa- 
tion which the old patriarch had to take. 

(1) He became separated from his country. 

And so it must be with us, beloved. Before we 
can enter into the Land of Canaan we must be- 
come separated from that other land — the 
world. "If any man love the world, the love 
of the Father is not in him." We can not re- 
ceive the "fulness of the blessing of the gospel 
of Christ" if we are still gripping the world 
and the things of the world. It is impossible. 
The fact is : We have to let the world go that 
we may receive Jesus in any sense whatsoever. 
The command that we are to separate ourselves 



STARTING OUT 7 

from the country in which we are now living 
is just as absolute and imperative today as it 
was in the days of Abraham. 

My brother, if we are to enter into the Land 
of Canaan and secure our inheritance, we must 
cut loose from everything that hinders a free 
intercourse with our Father. We must have 
no ambition but an ambition to know God and 
do his will. We must be so stripped of every 
desire, great or small, pertaining to the things 
of the world that there will be nothing left of 
them. And it is' possible that you may think 
you will miss all these things, but you will find 
it is blessed, beloved, to have the heart and will 
fully yielded to God in such an entire surren- 
der or consecration ; for he most surely will fill 
the soul thus yielded up to him. Yes, he will 
I know that he will, for he does. Amen. 

(2) He was called to separate himself from 
his kinsmen. Now we are getting somewhere ! 
It is an easy thing to give up the world, com- 
pared to the giving up of relations. This was 
no easy matter for Abraham to do, nor is it an 
easy matter for us to do today ; but if we are 
to enter fully into the life of Canaan and enjoy 
our inheritance therein it must be done. We 
must separate ourselves from our relatives. 
We are called to lay upon the altar of Jehovah 
all ties of natural affection and selfish passions. 
I have never forgotten how it almost broke 



8 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

my mother's heart when she learned that I was 
going to give up the pastorate and enter the 
evangelistic field. But if I were going to be 
obedient to God I could not afford to let my 
love for my mother interfere in the matter ; and 
although my entering the field of evangelicm 
did not meet with her approval I did so; for 
God's will comes even before the love and wish 
of a parent. 

We are to remember that there is a spiritual 
side of our nature and there is also an earthly 
side, and we are called upon to get rid of every- 
thing pertaining to the earthly side, and God 
will see to it that we lose nothing by doing so. 
This is an experience that all of us are called 
upon to pass through. Our loved ones can not 
be given up and laid upon the altar of God 
without suffering. Our friendships of years' 
standing can not be laid down at his feet with- 
out the heart being torn. But, blessed be God! 
he will compensate us for every step taken and 
every surrender made. And, what may I mean 
as to all this J Simply this : If the wife, whom 
you look upon as your dearest treasure, or the 
friend to whom you have been devoted for 
many years, interferes with the work of God in 
your heart and life, then they must be laid upon 
the altar of God. For, though you love them, 
you are to love God more devotedly than either. 
And right at this point, my brother, is where 



STARTING OUT 9 

many have gone down. In compromising with 
wife or husband, friend or other loved one, 
many have proven themselves untrue and dis- 
loyal to God. If Abraham had not turned his 
back upon his relatives ond friends that day, 
we never would have heard of him in all prob- 
ability ; and the divine record would have been 
different from what we find it to be. 

(3) He was called to leave his father's 
house. What is that that Jesus said? Listen 
"Except a man leave father and mother, houses 
and lands, he is not worthy of me." Exactly! 
But there are comparatively few who do so. 
But one must be separated from all the sinful, 
despotic, self -life within the soul; for right 
here is where we find the seat of all the trouble. 
It is hard to leave our own land behind, and it 
is hard to bid good-by to our loved ones; but 
harder than all else is to part with that which 
is dearer than all beside — youi will. My! how 
hard it is. 

Then there is another lesson we are to learn. 
It is this : That our natural instincts are not to 
be our guide. We must cease depending upon 
them. They can never bring us the blessing 
that God wants to give us. The fact is, every- 
thing pertaining to us naturally must die. We 
are to lay upon the altar everything that came 
to us from the Adam life that the Holy Spirit 
may strike the knife deep and hard therein. 



10 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

These things must die out too if we are to be 
wholly the Lord's and holy unto him. 

Have you ever thought of the number of 
times the old patriarch suffered separation at 
the word of the Lord? Let us see if we can get 
some idea. 

(a) He was first separated from his father 
in Haran. It was in Haran that he lost his 
father through death. And we always become 
separated from our father by the death route. 

(b) Then he became separated from Lot. 
Why he ever brought Lot with him into Ca- 
naan I do not know. But we can imagine to 
some extent with what sorrow this separation 
took place. If you will read the account you 
will see how unselfish Abraham was in permit- 
ting Lot to make first choice of the land before 
them. Lot took the best — the rich, fertile 
fields — leaving to Abraham the barren fields, 
while he went to the rich valley of the Jordan. 
Abraham must have felt the selfishness so clear- 
ly shown. Yet he made the sacrifice because of 
the love he had for his nephew. Lot deliberate- 
ly chose the world. It grieves us when we 
see selfishness manifest in the home, and when 
some son or daughter deliberately makes a 
choice of the world. 

(c) He separated himself from Isaac, See 
how God is leading him step by step. First, 
father; then nephew; and, last of all, Isaac. 



STARTING OUT 11 

The former separations were small when com- 
pared to the one he was called upon to go 
through later, when asked to separate himsen 
from Isaac, the child of promise. Isaac had 
come into the home in wonderful fulfillment of 
Abraham's faith that had waited so long for 
him. And Isaac naturally became the center 
around which all the old man's hopes revolved. 
Isaac was the very link of the old patriarch's 
faith; but, nevertheless, when God called for 
Isaac, Abraham surrendered or gave him will- 
ingly to Jehovah, and in so doing he became 
again separated in much deeper sense than he 
had heretofore. Will I ever forget when God 
spoke to me for my little three year old girl for 
the foreign field ? I guess not. She was among 
the little " don't knows" that I gave to God 
when making my consecration. The fact is, 
brother, "That which God has given us, we 
must learn to hold only for him." 

II, Note the Step of Faith. This was the 
next step in Abraham's life and experience. 
He had to leave, it is true, but he had also to 
take. In the early dawn of the world's history 
this meant much. He had no way mapped out 
for his feet. But he knew that God had spoken 
and that was sufficient. And, beloved, let us 
give heed whenever God speaks ! Abraham had 
no train of pullmans to take him to his destina- 
tion. The fact is, he did not know where his 



12 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

destination was. He had no one to point out 
his way across the sandy wastes. He had only 
the naked word of Jehovah, "Get thee out un- 
to a land that I will show thee." There was 
nothing definitely promised at the time. The 
call of God was clear and that was all that was 
necessary. And, beloved, that is all that's ne- 
cessary at any time. 

It is just the same today. Whenever God 
calls us to leave our country and enter into 
Canaan, among other things we have to leave 
behind is our preconceived notions and ideas of 
what is to be done and how we are to do it. 
We must get rid of our own ideas and notions. 
God alone is to be the chief object of our faith 
and hope and life. There are those who have 
the way all mapped out and their plans pretty 
well made; but, my brethren, it is by far the 
best to let God show us the way and plan for us. 
His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are his 
ways our ways; but God wants us to think 
his thoughts and observe his ways. It is God's 
plan to show us the way himself ; and the road 
will open up before us as we go along. We 
can not see before us as we go along. We 
can not see twenty-four hours ahead, and it is 
best so. 

We do not understand the " whys' ' and 
"wherefores" of God. We are too apt to get 
in a hurry and run ahead of the Lord's provi- 



STARTING OUT 13 

dences, but we must learn to be patient. We are 
to let patience have her perfect work, that we 
may be entire, wanting nothing, although God 
does keep us waiting at times as he did Abra- 
ham for the promised blessing. And why is 
it so? God is merely testing us. We are still 
in school and he is our Teacher. We are to 
learn to lean more upon him. This was what 
Abraham did. He saw God first and the land 
afterward. And leaking upon Jehovah the 
patriarch went out not knowing whither he 
went. Wasn't that beautiful? And, beloved, 
that is the life that God calls you and me to. 
Happy indeed the heart that learns thus to 
trust God ! But it does pay to obey God. Abra- 
ham, through obedience, received a distinct 
promise afterward. 

He is now in the Land of Canaan, and Je- 
hovah says unto him: "This land will I give 
thee, and unto thy seed after thee." And add- 
ed to this promise was that of another, that he 
should have a son. 

Abraham believed both promises because he 
had believed God before. And he believed 
God for the land and for the boy long before he 
had any evidence of possessing either. Thank 
God ! Oh, my soul, trust thou in God ! And he 
believed for the boy in the face of the promise 
being contrary to the laws of nature. He be- 
lieved God because he did not get his eyes 



14 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

fastened upon natural law, but upon God alone. 
Oh, what faith! And faith must be the very- 
basis of a life that is fully yielded to God in 
consecration. There are opposing elements in 
the way, it is true ; but God expects us to step 
out in the face of every opposing element, 
whether it be friends or family, home or 
church, opinions of reputation, whatever it 
may be. 

If you would have God sanctify you wholly, 
beloved, the first step is to yield fully to him 
and dare believe that he accepts your consecra- 
tion. If you were to see first all what he has 
for you, you would fail to secure the blessing 
that he gave Abraham, who dared to believe 
while not seeing. The patriarch so believed God 
that he actually ' ' counted the things which 
are not as if they were." Did you get that? 
" Counted the things Which are not as if they 
were. ' ' Hallelujah ! 

Can you believe God for your reputation 
enough to let folks say what they please about 
you? Can you suffer through meekness know- 
ing that God will vindicate you? "When he 
was reviled, he reviled not again.'* Can you 
let adversities come, if he sends them, and com- 
plain not? Can you see friends slip from you 
and your means slip from your grasp, and say : 
"Well, thank God! He promised all to me, 
and he knows best; he will do what he has 



STARTING OUT 15 

promised"? Do you believe God sufficiently 
that you can put Isaac upon the altar and re- 
main quiet, without any questioning, in the 
hour of testing? This is the cost, my brother, 
but it is worthwhile. Oh, I know that it is 
worthwhile, bless his nome forever ! 

Some one has beautifully put it this way: 
"If we know our Isaacs are the children of 
promise, if God has told us they are ours, we, 
too, can lay them fearlessly upon his altar. 
They cannot die, but they must be surrender- 
ed.' ' Amen. 

I have spoken of Lot's separation from his 
uncle and of the greedy, grasping, selfish spirit 
that he showed. But after Lot had made his 
selfish choice God spake to Abraham and said: 
"Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the* 
place where thou art northward, and south- 
ward, and eastward, and westward. For all 
the land which thou seest, to thee will I give 
it, and to thy seed forever. Arise and walk 
through the land in the length of it and the 
breadth of it." 

And, my brother, thus does God speak to 
each of us. He asks that we too scale some 
barren height of consecration and self-denial, 
great though it may be, and look down upon 
our land of promise which he holds out to us, 
up toward that cold, bleak north, and down to- 
ward the sunny south, and east toward the sun- 



16 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

rise, and west toward the sun set. "All is 
yours,* ' we hear him say. All is ours, thank 
God! Look as far as your eyes can reach. It 
belongs to you, and God is saying today: "Go 
up, and possess your possessions." "For all 
the land which thou seest, to thee will I give 
it." Oh, bless God; but it stirs my soul to 
think even for a moment of it# possibilities 
through divine grace! 

III. Note Our Possessions. It must have 
been a beautiful and most attractive sight to 
the patriarch as he looked over the land and 
caught the vision. But it was not enough for 
him to stand upon the barren hill of self-de- 
nial and gaze upon the land before him. He 
must go down from the height, and walk 
through the length and breadth of the land. 
And so it is with us. Every moment we must 
be on the move, possessing the land, step by 
step. Every little detail anl circumstance of 
life is but another advance in Canaan. Oh, 
what wonders of divine grace there are to be 
found therein, through its length and breadth ! 
But they will not come to us, — we must go out 
after them. And we are to recognize also this 
blessed truth, the Land of Canaan is as broad 
as our spirit *s need, it is as broad as our temp- 
tations and trials, it is as broad and as long as 
our life, and all human need and fellowship. 

Do not say, We can not inherit the land. We 



STARTING OUT 17 

can. Do not say such a life of faith and trust 
is impossible. It is not. Do not say there is no 
such a blessed spiritual life and experience. 
There is. I know there is, bless God! Now 
listen ! The consecration that counts for God is 
the consecration that lasts every hour from 
Monday morning until the following Monday 
morning throughout the year. Don't ever 
again let us be guilty of complaining of our 
hard lot. Our "hard lots" and the "hard 
places" of every day are to test us that we 
may be driven closer to the heart of God. 

I remember several years that I gazed upon 
the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North 
Carolina. I shall never forget that experience. 
It was something new; and it was as great, 
and grand, and beautiful as it was new. My 
tfoul fairly bounded within with hallelujahs as 
I looked upon that magnificent scenery. But 
I did not get the best scenery from the heights. 
It was gotten when I had reached Ashville, 
by going through the valleys and the passes 
of the range. Around me on every hand and in 
every ^direction there were peaks reaching 
their proud stately heads towards the heaven* 
above and we knew what the Psalmist meant 
when he said: "The heavens declare the glory 
of God and the firmament showeth his handi- 
work." Why don't you shout? It stirs my 
soul even now when I think of it. But here is 



18 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

what I want you to see. If you and I are to 

enjoy the " fulness of the blessing of the gos- 
pel of Christ/ ' through the sanctifying power 
of the Holy Ghost, we too must go through the 
valleys and passes of God's mountain range, 
ever following as he may lead. Amen. 



^9 



CHAPTER II 

Beholding The Land 

"And Moses went up from the plains of 
Moab unto Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah 

* # * And Jehovah showed him all the land 

* * * And Jehovah said unto him, This is the 
land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, 
and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy 
seed. I have caused thee to see it with thine 
eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither." Deut. 
34:1, 4. 

The children of Israel had departed from 
Egypt, the land of darkness and sin. They had 
come up to Kadesh Barnea and had been turned 
back into the wilderness on account of their 
rebellion and unbelief. They had wandered 
for forty long years in the wilderness and now 
the second generation had reached again the 
border of the land of Canaan. It would not be 
very many days ere they would enter into their 
inheritance, but there was one man among the 
thousands, although the rightful leader of the 
people of God, who could not enter the land 
with the children of Israel owing to the exalta- 
tion of self at the rock. This was Moses. He 



20 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

could view the land but he was forbidden to 
enter therein. 

When Jehovah called Moses up to the top of 
Nebo's lofty peak he showed him all the land. 
From this height God gave his servant a magni- 
ficent view of the inheritance that his people 
were to enter upon. And there is still given, in 
a measure, to the soul a revelation of the ex- 
perience it is about to enter into and possess. 
This is true as to the experience of regeneration 
as well as that of entire sanctifi cation. The 
beauties, attractiveness, and joyousness of both 
experiences are held up to view before the 
people that they too may desire to have the 
same blessed experiences written in their 
hearts. It does not pay to preach either re- 
generation or entire sanctifi cation in an abusive 
spirit. But present them in all their beauty and 
glory, and hungry hearts and thirsty souls will 
be attracted thereto and enter in. 

That must have been a most wonderful sight 
given Moses at the time. God saw to it that all 
the clouds were taken from the sky, leaving it 
dear and transparent. He gave to the eye of 
the meekest man a supernatural strength so 
that he might see all before and around him. 
"Way off to where the blue waters of the sea 
dipped into the skyline Moses beheld the lofty 
mountain range. He saw the northern limits 
and far off southern reaches. It was one long 



BEHOLDING THE LAND 21 

picture of wonderful beauty and grandeur. And 
he not only saw the land, but somehow, I believe 
he understood what it all meant and was to 
mean to the hungry multitudes in the ages to 
come. 

Have you ever thought of itf God is won- 
derfully kind and good unto his children. He 
gives us these records for a purpose, and if we 
only grasp the historical setting of this beauti- 
ful picture, we fail, utterly fail, to grasp the 
real deep, spiritual significance that it is meant 
to bring to us. The teachings to be found in 
this incident are wonderful. May we not look 
at some of them ? 

1. Moses Saw the Land Just Before His 
Death. There are many like Moses today. They 
wander about in the deserts all the days of their 
life, and at the last moment, when about ready 
to take their departure from this old world, 
they somehow catch a glimpse of the land which 
might have been theirs many years before. They 
have lost, oh, so much ! 

Now there is much that one can admire about 
Moses. He is known as the greatest law-giver 
the world has even known. He is known as the 
meekest of all men, not including Jesus Christ. 
He is known as the greatest leader of his day. 
He is to be greatly admired because of his re- 
fusal of the crown of the greatest world empire 
of the time, preferring to take his place with the 



22 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

people of God, rather than enjoy the pleasures 
of sin for a season. But we are to remember 
that Moses lost something. He gained much, 
but he also lost. No, he did not lose his soul. 
No, he did not lose his crown. Not that. He 
saved his soul and he gained his crown. But 
Moses did not gain the I^and of Canaan. Oh, 
what a loss was that to him! Don't you think, 
beloved, that there are numbers of Christian 
men and women who face death and realize that 
they too have lost something? 

It is possible for us, when too late, to see 
what God has for us, and it is even possible for 
us to tell others how to enter upon the enjoy- 
ments of the blessings that God has for us, and 
yet fail to enter in ourselves, all because we 
have exalted self at some rock in our journey- 
ings, or because we have failed to exalt Christ 
in some point of our Christian life and exper- 
ience, when he should have had the praise. 
There are those who have the correct theory 
of the "second blessing", and yet are void of 
the blessing themselves. Have you ever thought 
of this? Well, beloved, it is true. 

2. To See Canaan Moses Had to Scale the 
Height. And so it is today. If we are to see 
Canaan we are to leave the lowlands of thiff 
world and get up higher. 

"Look how we grovel here below, 
Fond of these earthly toys." 



BEHOLDING THE LAND 28 

This is what many a man and woman are sing- 
ing and doing these days, while God is calling 
us up to Pisgah's height to show us the land. 
I do not believe we as Methodists have any 
right to sing that hymn. Yes, I know it is in 
the hymnal, and 1 know also that it is the ex- 
perience of the vast majority of the Methodists 
throughout the world, but God wants to take 
us up above the world and its "earthly joys/' 
and plant our feet upon the eternal Rock of 
Ages where these things will have no attraction 
for us. The reason so many of us like that old 
hymn is because we are attached and not de- 
tached. We are attached to the world and not 
detached from it. If you are to see the land, 
my brother, you must get to higher ground than 
the levels of the Arabia. You must scale the 
heights of consecration. The world has its al- 
lurements, it is true; but you must turn your 
back upon these things if you are to see Canaan. 
Every thing — all things — must be counted as 
refuse if you are to gain a view of the land 
in its entirety. There is the mountain peak of 
separation before you. Lift up thine eyes and 
gaze thereon, and then like Moses scale its 
granite sides until you have gained the height. 
It may be a difficult way, and I am sure it will 
be a solitary way ; but, blessed be God, God will 
be with you as he was with Moses. Before 
Moses could see Canaan God had to separate 



24 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

him from his friends and his people. Don't 
let us forget that. It is very important that we 
should remember it. God had to separate him 
from the multitude, from human council. And 
in the silence of that lonely mountain, God 
spake to him face to face. And so it is with us. 
You and I, if we are to let God give us the 
vision he so much desires, must get away from 
all else and alone with our God. The multi- 
tudes must be left behind. Friendships of long 
standing must be broken. Relatives must be 
bidden farewell. It is a complete separation 
from and unto. From all that would hinder, 
unto God. 

3. Moses Had to Beach the Place Where He 
Was Willing to Die. This is the hardest part 
of the journey. But, if we are to see the land, 
we too must reach such a place in our exper- 
ience. Some one has said : ''Moses saw his own 
sepulchre first, then he saw the land." Moses 
did not scale Pisgah's height that he might be- 
come exalted in his own sight. To go that 
way meant death. It meant death to self, death 
to honor, death to reputation, death to all but 
God. And, beloved, if you are to see Canaan 
you too must reach it by the death route. As 
one has said: "The veil of the flesh is in the 
way of the Holy of Holies." It must be rent 
asunder by the crucifixion of self. We must 
die to friends, relatives, reputations, appoint- 



BEHOLDING THE LAND 25 

nients, our own glory, our own self-will, our 
pride, our worldly ambitions, and even to our 
very fear of dying. It must be a death that is 
complete, complete to all that interferes 
with sight. Are you willing, my friend, thus 
to die, that Christ, in his sanctifying power 
might live out his life in you? 

4. And Moses Saw the Land, but How? He 
saw the land with his natural eye. Yes, but 
he also saw the land with his spirital eye. 
There is no doubt about this. And is it out of 
place if we should say that we believe Moses 
at this time got a spiritual insight into the 
meaning of Canaan that he had not gotten be- 
fore? 

Moses saw much. He saw all the land. Ho 
gazed upon the luxuriant fields and the snow- 
capped range of Lebanon, the winding Jordan 
and the hill country of the Anakim, and other 
sights. He saw Mt. Hermon in the distance in 
all its whiteness and beauty and glory. And 
think you it out of place if we let our imagina- 
tion get the best of us here and think that while 
Moses gazed upon Herman's majesty, that 
there may have been another scene presenting 
itself to him in which he was to play a promin- 
ent part at some future time, the Transfigura- 
tion? 

Have you gotten a vision of Canaan, my 
brother? Or are you still dwelling on the 



26 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

levels? There is much to be found therein to 
attract the eye and the heart. And there is 
much therein to be overcome. my brother, 
let us go up into the mountain and gaze upon 
the rich beauty of Canaan ! It is not a far off 
land. It is close at hand. One step by faith 
into yonder Jordan and the waters will be 
divided and you are there. It is a wonderful 
land. Fruits that no one ever tasted in the 
wilderness are to be found there. Mines of 
great spiritual wealth are waiting to be ex- 
plored. It is a most wonderful land! 

5. Concluding Lessons. This land is no 
myth. This land is a reality. It is no make- 
believe. In this land the life is a life of faith 
and joyous experience. In this land Jesus, our 
divine Joshua, has become to us a real, living, 
vital Sanctifier, and a real definite, positive 
sanctification. 

Then, too, Canaan is a land of rest. It is a 
land of rest in the living God. Beloved, have 
you this rest? If you worry about this and 
that and the other thing, then it is because you 
do not behold the beauty of the land, and you 
are not yet over upon its holy soil. If you are 
fretting and stewing it is because you are still 
on this side of the Jordan. "0 Land of Rest, 
for thee I sigh." That is what many are still 
singing today. Well, beloved, enter therein 



BEHOLDING THE LAND 27 

and all sorrow and sighing will flee away. 
That's in the Book. 

Then, too, Canaan is a land of victories. The 
victories that you obtain in Canaan are by far 
greater than any you have ever gotten before. 
In this land you are not to be baffled and beaten 
in your life and experience, but you are to be 
overcomers. The battles to be fought — and 
there are many — are not yours, but Jehovah's. 
There will be hard places^ Yes, but in his 
name you are to overcome these hard places, 
for it is he who will lead you to sure victory. 
The giants of the "hill country" will rise up 
against you, but what are these when pitted 
against the Son of God whom you have abiding 
with you and in you? And let us not forget 
that when we enter Canaan we enlist, not for 
merely one single battle but for a campaign 
of aggressive warfare, until every enemy is 
defeated and we possess our possessions. 

In Canaan there is real, definite, positive, 
radical holiness to be found. It is God's pur- 
pose, beloved, to have written in our charac- 
ters all the beauty of the graces of holiness* 
for when one enters Canaan then does he be- 
come a partaker of God's holiness. 

Then each one has his or her own inheritance. 
The inheritance of Judah was not like that of 
Ephraim. Nor are there any two inheritances 
alike. And so it is with us. Our emotional 



28 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

natures are varied, therefore are our exper- 
iences expressed in different moods. But we 
are always to remember that God will give us 
the best thing possible for us. He will grant 
unto us such blessings and helps and revela- 
tions that each one of us need. Let us not get 
our eyes on some other man's experience or 
possession, but upon Jesus Christ. You mar 
not become a Wesley or a Bramwell, but, 
thanks be unto God, you can be a saint ; and the 
fulness of God will abide within according to 
your faith and capacity. And faith has much 
to do with one's capacity. 

Canaan is not far away. It is very near 

to each of us, and it can be inherited while 
we are living, thank God ! Where Moses stood 
that day Canaan lay at his very feet. It was 
not far off. It was there. It is still "there", 
and it is still near. Thank God! It was but 
a few days after the death of Moses that the 
people of God entered Canaan. And it is sad 
to think that Moses could not enter. He was 
a good man, a righteous man, but there came a 
time when Moses exalted Moses and failed to 
sanctify God before the people, and he had to 
suffer for it. And, beloved, there are many 
Christians today who are missing much, oh, 
so much, of the precious things of God! The 
disobedience is sin; and disobedience and self 
least exaltation of self is sin. The least act of 



BEHOLDING THE LAND 29 

exaltation will keep the soul out of Canaan. 

"Well then, how is one to get into Canaan V* 
That is a fair question. Do not waste any time 
in trying to get in on your own strength. Do 
not think that because you are noble, or high- 
minded, or well bred, or good that you are en- 
titled to enter, for you are not. It was Joshua 
who led God's people into Canaan, and it is 
Jesus — our Divine Joshua — who is to lead us 
in today. If Jesus does not lead us in, then 
we can not get in. Will you let him lead you 
in right now? 



sm 



CHAPTER in. 

Failing To Enter In 

"But the men that went tip with him said, 
We be not able to go up against the people ; for 
they are stronger than we. And they brought 
up an evil report of the land which they had 
searched unto the children of Israel." — Num- 
bers 13 :31. 

The words of the text are selected from a 
passage that conveys to our minds one of the 
most vivid and saddest pictures in the history 
of the children of Israel, — the people of God 
halting upon the border of Canaan. 

The incident also brings to our thoughts some 
of the hindrances that are keeping many of 
God's people from entering into the land in 
these days, and therefore failing to enter into 
their spiritual inheritance. Let us look very 
carefully at some of these hindrances. 

1. Too many of ns depend upon human wis- 
dom. If you will turn to your Bible and read 
with care the names of those who were sent to 
spy out the land, and have the meaning of these 
names given you, you will be astonished; and 



FAILING TO ENTER IN 31 

you will get some idea of the truthfulness of this 
statement. 

Take, for instance, the name of Shammuah. 
Shammauh means, he that is heard. He is a 
man that requires and demands respect on ac- 
count of his learning. He is a man of fame. 
He depends upon his own prowess and wis- 
dom. And Shammuah is still living. It is to 
Shammuah that many go when asking about 
the possibilities of entering into the Canaan of 
Perfect Love, and they are turned back at 
Kadesh Barnea on account of their halting as 
they listen to the worldly wisdom of Sham- 
muah. There are men, leaders we call them, 
who appear as men worthy to give advice, but 
they know not the deeper truths of God's word. 
Brilliant minds have they, but they do not 
know anything of God's fulness, and they 
therefore fail to give us the teachings of the 
Spirit of God. Thus they stand in the way of 
all spiritual progress. Such men as these are 
able to lead their flock into pastures of culture, 
but not in paths of righteousness and holiness, 
A highly cultivated intellect, although it be 
God-given, is not for the purpose of guiding 
one into the life of faith, or where they may 
enter into the land of perfect love and holiness 
of heart and life. I recall a young man to 
whom I went with an appeal during a revival 
meeting and his reply to my entreaty was: 



32 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

"Mr. Kelley, I am as intelligent as the average 

man. I can see things too, but " It is 

not necessary that I should state how I answer- 
ed him. 

I take it for granted that this is the period of 
the church's and the world's age of intelligence 
— as far as we have gone. The leaders of the 
church are known for their great intelligence, 
their intellectual force. But how many of these 
same men are actually leading the people of 
God into the rich, green pastures and their 
rightful inheritance in Canaan Land? Jesus 
had this same spirit to run up against during 
his day. He was constantly meeting up with 
Shammuah in his ministry, in the teachings of 
the teachers of that time; teachers who were 
not able to lead the people into a land of rest 
and plenty. Paul had the same thing to face. 
He came in contact with the wisdom of both 
the Jews and Greeks. And he it was who said 
in no uncertain words: "If any man would be 
wise, let him become a fool that he may be 
wise." It is not learning that we are so much 
in need of. It is the light of God that we so 
badly need today, as much as at any time in 
the world's history. 

We do not have the time to call to mind all 
the names mentioned in the incident of spying 
out the land. And let it suffice to be said : The 
very thought of sending the spies into the 



FAILING TO ENTER IN 33 

land was the suggestion, not so much of the 
devil, but of worldly wisdom. Why should 
there have been any quibbling over the mat- 
ter? Had not God said that the land was 
good? Was not that sufficient? God invites 
every Christian to enter into his inheritance, 
drink freely of his fulness, and be filled with 
himself; and that is all that's necessary. Then, 
dear heart, why should you tarry longer on 
the border at Kadesh Barnea? Why listen 
further to the wisdom of the world? 

May I not be permitted to give one or more 
further admonitions? I am sure they are not 
out of place. 

(i) Let us be guarded against the opinions of 
men. God knows what we are. He knows what 
each one needs, and he will see us through if 
we will but trust him. We must, beloved, die 
out completely to the opinions of men. 

(ii) Then, we are to guard ourselves against 
our own wisdom. There is where so many have 
failed in their spiritual life and privileges, — 
too wise to listen to or give heed to those who 
know best regarding God's dealings with his; 
people. Do not misunderstand me. I would 
not discourage careful thought before taking; 
an important step in an important matter, nor 
do I discourage the seeking of proper council, if* 
you are not sure of God's will in the matter.. 
But I do say this : When God's voice has beeik 



34 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

heard, and his word has been given, then there 
should be implicit and immediate obedience 
on your part. We must not forget that the way 
we have been asked to go is a ione way, and 
God himself is the One who will see us through 
to its end. We do not have much company in 
this way, beloved. But God is sufficient. 

(iii) Then, we are to guard against preju- 
dice. This is a sin — or we may say, an off- 
shoot of carnality — that often gets in the way 
of God, with the result that many a good man 
or woman turns away from the deeper truths 
to be found in God's word and go down to de- 
feat. They have been taught differently and it 
is hard for them to break away from their old 
teachings and line up with the truth of full sal- 
vation through the sanctifying blood of Jesus. 
If God is to have his way in our hearts, beloved, 
we must get to a place where we are willing 
to throw aside our preconceived notions and 
formulated theories, cut every " shore line" 
loose and swing out full and clear into the 
will of God. Yes, I am free to acknowledge 
there has been some wildfire and fanacticism 
thrust upon us — and we are not entirely free 
of it yet — but wildfire and fanaticism do not 
argue one single point against the doctrine and 
experience of entire sanctification. The same 
difficulty that confronted Israel is the same 
difficulty that confronts many today. They 
listen to the spies that bring a false report in- 



FAILING TO ENTER IN 35 

stead of giving heed to the Joshuas and Calebs 
in our midst. Personal prejudice must be given 
up if one is to enter the Canaan of perfect love. 

2. The second reason of Israel's failure was 
that of fear. There are far too many who are 
always ready to listen to the devil. Not that 
they are not Christians, not that they do not 
dislike the devil, for they have no use for 
him ; but they give heed too much to his words 
and permit him to inject fear into their heart. 
In the narrative given us here the spies said 
that the land was good, the fruits of the land 
all that one could desire, and to prove it they 
brought a most wonderful bunch of grapes 

with them, but They would inject a 

"but" where they had no business. "But" 
the people were mighty, there were giants over 
there. Why the very hills were over run with 
them. But what does a giant amount to to a 
man who is in line with God? "But" the 
cities were walled up ever so high, until it 
looked as if the walls extended up to heaven. 
Fear is always apt to cause one to draw on 
their imagination and see things with an in- 
creased and imaginary vision. Such fear as 
this, my brother, is sin in the sight of God. 
"Fear not, I am with thee: be not dismayed." 
Now there is a fear that is perfectly legitimate, 
and that is for one to be afraid of their fears. 
It will pay us to be fearful of our fears. 



36 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

But there were some reasons why Israel 
feared. May we not see what some of them 
were! 

(i) They dwelt too much upon the task be- 
fore them. This was mistake number one. And 
it is a common mistake among God's people 
today. But, beloved, we may rest assured that 
every sort of difficulty will cross our pathway 
through life. But, thanks be unto God ! he will 
enable us to rise above them or overcome them. 
God takes no account of difficulties. Take it 
for granted that they will confront us, but we 
are not to be afraid of them. Stand in the 
might of God and all will be well. Lay upon 
him our burdens and our difficulties, and he 
will give us the victory. Thank God ! 

(ii) Israel looked upon their own weakness 
and failed to recognize God 's own strength and 
might. The trouble with these people were, 
they got their eyes off of God and on their sur- 
roundings, until in their own sight they were 
as grasshoppers. Whenever the soul is turned 
in upon its own heart and life you are likely 
to find much that is discouraging. We must 
keep our eyes turned Godward and heaven- 
ward, for if we continually look at ourselves 
we will find all sorts of difficulties, and the 
first thing we knew they will look to us as 
cities ''walled up to heaven,' ' and we will 
see giants galore. But suppose you are as 



FAILING TO ENTER IN 37 

grasshoppers. What difference does it make 
anyhow? God is not measuring your strength 
and prowess. He is doing the fighting. Just 
trust God, my brother, that is all that is neces- 
sary. 

(iii) Then there are those who are fearful 
of their reputation. Don't you think some of 
those people said: "I can't afford to fight 

against the Canaanites, it will hurt my reputa- 
tion." Beloved, God is better than one's 
reputation! A certain presiding elder called 
on Bud Robinson one night and said: "Bud, 
will you go with me and pray for a sick man ? ' ' 
Bud went. After driving several miles from 
town the presiding elder turned the horse into 
a copse of woods and said, "Bud, I am the 
sick man. I want you to pray for me. ' ' After 
praying until about midnight the elder rose 
from his knees and remarked: "Bud, if I pro- 
fess the experience of sanctification it will af- 
fect my standing in the conference and I can't 
afford to do it. Let's go home." Home they 
went, and in less than twelve months that 
same presiding elder presided over the trial 
of Bud Robinson and expelled him from the 
Methodist Episcopal Church South, for profes- 
sing and preaching the doctrine and experience 
of holiness as a second definite work of grace. 
Thank God, Bud Robinson is still true to the 
doctrine and experience! Reputation! Be- 



38 THE LAND OF CANNAN 

loved, if we are to be wholly sanctified, if we 
are to be true to God, if we are to pass beyond 
Kadesh Barnea in our religious life, we cannot 
afford to cling to our reputation. We shall be 
misunderstood, but God will see us through. 

3. Israel failed because they did not believe 
God. They did not believe the promises of 
Jehovah. It was not that they doubted God's 
power, but somehow they lacked faith to be- 
lieve that God could and would give them vic- 
tory over every foe. You may believe with the 
head, beloved, that God can do all things but, 
unless you believe with the heart and put your 
belief into a practical demonstration, you are 
not really trusting God. If Israel had placed 
the power of Jehovah over against the " giants 
of the hill country/' that generation of Israel- 
ites never would have perished upon the sands 
of the desert. If you will make a study of the 
narrative, you will see that that is exactly what 
Caleb did. He put the power of God over 
against every obstacle. He said, "We be well 
able to go up and possess the land." Why? 
Caleb knew God. The fearful of heart said, 
"We be not able." That is what this class is 
always saying. 

It was the Psalmist who said: "I have set 
Jehovah always before me; because he is at 
my right hand I shall not be moved." Be- 
loved, that is faith ! If you really believe God 



FAILING TO ENTER IN 39 

you will take him at his word and stand flat- 
looted upon his promises, though ail hell should 
try to make you afraid. [Sometime our will is 
in the way. Now God does not want to break 
your will, but he does want to control and 
sanctify it. At times there are friends or rela- 
tives holding us back from our rightful posses- 
sions ; but God is able to get a grip upon them 
and make them a blessing instead of a hind- 
rance. The harder the place the more God 
loves to manifest his love and power. We do 
not understand why certain things are permit- 
ted to come upon us, but God knows why, and 
that is all that is necessary. We do not under- 
stand why one has to bear with an uncongenial 
wife or a head-strong husband, but God knows 
why. If God is to work in you, and through 
you, and by you, then he must get you in a 
hard place that there may be room for his 
power to be manifest. 

And when we do enter upon these hard 
places, my brother, do not let us fret or worry. 
It is for the best, and God doeth all things well. 

(i) Israel did not believe that God loved 
them. They reasoned something like this: If 
God loves us, why does he treat us this way? 
"Why are we brought to this point of suffering? 
Why are these things thus? They were very 
modern in their reasoning. "Wherefore hath 
God brought us into this land?" They labored 
under the false impression that Jehovah had 



40 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

brought them there that he might destroy 
them. (That is still the impression some people 
have of God.) Now, that whole thing is funny, 
isn't it? Everything seemed (mark you, I said 
seemed) to go against them, and they thought 
God had deserted them. 

Listen, beloved! Temptations may come, 
trials may beset us, the clouds may gather 
heavily and the storm may break upon your 
heads ; but, as sure as I stand in your presence 
this morning, God will see you through. He 
is pledged to do so. If you are true to God, he 
will bring you out of every trial and tempta- 
tion, and enable you to ride safely through 
the storm, bringing you out from them all 
more than conquerors. 

(ii) Then, too, Israel did not believe God's 
word. He said that he would bring them into 
the land, and they said that he would not. At 
the very entrance into the land they were 
thrown into confusion on account of their un- 
belief and their giving heed to the report of the 
majority. This is one time the minority should 
have been unanimously adopted! But where 
they failed, many are failing today. They 
refuse to accept God's truth and obey his voice. 

Now, do not misunderstand me, my brother. 
1 believe in "praying through", but I also be- 
lieve that when we have the evidence that our 
consecration has been accepted of God, that it 
is not so difficult a matter for faith to take 



FAILING TO ENTER IN 41 

God at his word and claim his promise, and the 
victory will be ours. I have seen too many get 
through on this line not to know that it is a 
safe proposition. The trouble with many is, 
they want to feel the inrush of the full tide of 
salvation into their souls, without trusting. 
But God demands that we believe him, without 
doubting, no matter what we see or feel. The 
feeling will come. The flood gates will open of 
their own accord, and the flood tides of God's 
grace and glory will inundate our souls. There 
is no doubt as to the soundness of this state- 
ment. If you have never felt the tides, there 
is something lacking in your consecration some- 
where and somehow, and faith fails to take 
hold upon the promises owing to the lack. Put 
the power of God over against your Anakims 
and walled cities, and God will see that the 
victory is yours. He is pledged to do so. 

4. But the great sin of Israel was that of 
disobedience. God had told them to go up and 
possess the land, but they would not. Next 
morning they said that they would go, but they 
could not. Beloved, we cannot make God come 
to our terms. We must meet his requirements. 

I have tried to be faithful to the picture. For 
forty years the younger generation wandered 
through the wilderness on account of the first 
generation's sin. The first generation fell by 
the wayside and their bones bleached in the 



42 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

sands of the desert under the hot oriental sun. 
This picture is true to life. Some one hearing 
this message this morning may have come up to 
the crisis in your religious life and experience, 
— I know not. You may have reached your 
Kadesh Barnea. God has led you thus far and 
he is willing to lead you further if you will let 
him. He is waiting your decision. What will 
it be? Will it be the wilderness just back of 
you a few steps, or will it be Canaan? If it is 
to be Canaan, the Land of Perfect Love, broth- 
er, sister cast aside everything that would lead 
you back into the wilderness, and dare follow 
your divine Joshua. Step past Kadesh Barnea 
and all will be well. Blessings are waiting you. 
The tablelands and hills and mountain peaks 
of God's grace and glory are before you. The 
grapes of Eschol and the honey out of the rock, 
the pomegranates and the old corn and the new 
wine of God's riches are at your command when 
you go over. Which will it be, the fruits of 
Canaan-land or the manna of the wilderness? 
The manna was good back there, but the fruits 
are better over here. The manna belongs to the 
wilderness life, but the figs, and grapes and 
other fruits belong to the Canaan life. Which 
will you have? What? What was that you 
said? "I will take the fruits of Canaan ?" Good 
for you! Come on over, beloved, and go up 
and possess your possessions. Oh, what pos- 
sibilities there are before the soul in Canaan ! 



Chapter IV. , 
Entering In. 

"Now after the death of Moses, * * * Je- 
hovah spake unto Joshua, * * * saying, Mo- 
$es my servant is dead; now therefore arise, 
go over this Jordan, thou, and all this peo- 
ple, unto the land which I do give them." — 
Joshua 1:1, 2. 

In a previous message we had come to 
Kadesh Barnea, on the border of Canaan. 
This morning our theme leads us to the very 
gates of the land, but it is not for the purpose 
of looking thereat upon the beauties and 
glories of Canaan, but that we might enter 
the land and possess our possessions, and be- 
come partakers of our rightful inheritance. 
In the name of our Divine Joshua I throw open 
the gates and bid every Christian man, wo- 
man and child this morning to enter. 

But there are certain steps to take and cer- 
tain conditions we are to meet ere we can en- 
ter fully upon our possessions or into our in- 
heritance. Let us see what some of these are. 

1. Moses Must Die. I will confess that this 
is rather harsh to put it so bluntly, but nev- 
ertheless' it is true. Moses must die. Up to 
this time Moses had been the leader of God's 



44 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

chosen people, but now he was to die. The 
first sentence in the book of Joshua, from 
which we have taken the text, is, " Moses, 
my servant, is dead." One has made the 
statement: "The children of Israel could 
not enter the land as long as Moses was alive. ' ' 
Why? Moses represented the law, and the 
law could make no man perfect. The law is 
a school master to lead us to Christ, that 
through Christ we might be saved and brought 
to perfection. The law is not Christianity, 
but it pointed to Christ the very embodiment 
of all that is to be found in Christianity. 

I have read arguments to prove that Moses 
was a sanctified man. He may have been as 
far as I know. I cannot say that he was, but 
he most certainly did not manifest the spirit 
of a sanctified man when he brought forth 
water from the rock and failed to exalt Je- 
hovah. But I am sure of this one thing: No 
man ever reached the pleasant pastures of 
perfect love through the Mosaic law. The 
writer of the Hebrews brings this out very 
clearly where he says: "For the law made 
nothing perfect; but the bringing in of a bet- 
ter hope did." And as some one has said: 
"Moses himself could not enter into the land 
because he was killed by his own law." He 
disobeyed God and therefore the law under 
which he lived had to be met by death. But 
before he died God took him up to Pisgah's 






ENTERING IN 45 

height and showed him the land that he could 
not enter. The law is good. It is good but 
the law alone does not suffice. It cannot. 
We need something better. Many people are 
trying their utmost to keep this and that reso- 
lution and fail, and of course the devil is 
pleased over the matter. This is exactly 
what he wanted you to do, and he knew that 
you would fail when you undertook to do it. 

Listen, my brother ! It is not what you and 
I can do but what God can do. The late A. B. 
Simpson makes this very clear in these words, 
"Jesus Christ came not to impose taxes but to 
pay them. He does not command you to b* 
right, that was the work of Moses. There is 
a great difference between law and grace. # # 
The law says, 'Thou must.* Grace says, 'I will 
enable you to do.' " Jesus has said: "My yoke 
is easy and my burden is light. Take my yoke 
upon you and ye shall find rest." The law's 
yoke was galling. Christ's yoke is easy. 

I do not want you to think that I hold that 
the law is abrogated. The Ten Commandments 
are still here, and they are here to stay, but 
we as Christians do not keep them because they 
are a part of the law. We keep them because 
we love God and we delight in pleasing him. 
The law is all right, i. e., it is a righteous law, 
but it cannot make men righteous. Grace does 
that. Jesus enables us, through grace, to ke«ap 
the law. We glance into the looking-glass and 



46 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

find streaks of grease and grime on our face, 
but the glass will not cleanse it away. Only 
the application of water will do that. The law 
shows us our sin, it is true, but it is only through 
the blood of Jesus Christ that we can be 
cleansed from our sin. 

2. God's People Must Die. Not in the sense 
that Moses died, but they must die. As we go 
along you will see what I mean. "Now arise 
and go over this Jordan.'' This is what Je- 
hovah spake to Joshua and his people. And 
what is Jordan anyway? Why, it's a river. 
Yes, that is true, and it is a muddy stream at 
that. But Jordan stands for something. What 
does it stand for? It stands for death. From 
time immemorial Jordan has always stood for 
death. 

When Israel stepped down into the Jordan 
they left behind forever the wilderness and all 
that it stood for. They died to their past life 
in the desert. And when in consecration the 
child of God steps down into Jordan we die out 
to the things we once cared for and loved, 
leaving to our back all that appealed to the 
carnal mind, all that the wilderness stands for; 
and through the Jordan of death we are en- 
abled to enter the Canaan of perfect love. 

In other Words :Whenever one meets the con- 
ditions, it means good-bye to the world and its 
desires and ambitions, and many of its cus- 
toms. Being "transformed" we no longer fol- 



ENTERING IN 47 

low after the fashions of the world. We now 

say good-bye to all these baubles, and loving 
him perfectly we try to please him and not 
offend him. Our past life is behind us, and 
our present life that is not pleasing to him 
we die out to it also. 

You will recall that as the children of Israel 
were crossing the Jordan that they erected a 
pile of stones in its midst to point out the place 
to the future generations where they had died. 
When they reached the opposite side of the 
stream they erected another pile of stones to 
mark their life of fullness. It is in this second 
experience where we find so beautifully typi- 
fied the experience of victory through the sanc- 
tification of God's Spirit. We must not hold 
to one thing that is not commended by 
God's Spirit. They must be slain. We are 
fully yielded to him. 

There is something else I want you to see 
as we pass along. After the Israelites had 
passed over Jordan and came to Cri^al they 
were circumcised. This is even a more beau- 
tiful type than the passing of the Jordan. This 
typifies cutting off or slaying of the old, na- 
tural life. Paul calls attention to this and says 
that it must be put off and the new man put 
on. In the eighth chapter of Romans he 
speaks of it as the carnal mind, and he states 
that it is not subject to the law of God. In 



48 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

it are included our natural tastes, and all de- 
sires that center around self, instead of cen- 
tering around Christ. 

Beloved, have you crossed over yet? Have 
you passed over Jordan and gone up to your 
Gilgal so that the Holy Spirit can circumcise 
the fore-skin of your heart? Have you laid 
your full and complete self at Jesus* feet, that 
he might raise you anew in him, fully saved 
and kept? I have read of a father who in 
disguise pointed a deadly weapon at the breast 
of his child who ran in fright from his pres- 
ence, but when the disguise was thrown oil 
and the weapon was pointed at thes child's 
breast the little fellow ran toward his father, 
saying: "lam not afraid now for I know you 
are my papa. " And so, beloved, we may throw 
ourselves into the loving arms of a gracious 
heavenly Father, realizing that the weapon he 
turns in our direction is not against us but 
against the sin within us which he wishes to 
slay. 

3. Obedience Required. They were to obey 
God's command and claim the fulfillment ol 
his word. "Unto the land which I do give unto 
them." That was God's requirement, his com- 
mand. To Abraham God had said, "That 
which I will give unto thee," but he does not 
say that to Israel. To Joshua he said: "Unto 
the land which I do give them." The whole 



ENTERING IN 49 

of Canaan was theirs, but they had to take it. 
And how time is this of our inheritance as 
Christian men and women! 

In the very moment we meet the condition 
in an absolute consecration God sanctifies 
the soul and we enter into our spiritual Canaan, 
but we are to possess the land foot by foot, inch 
by inch. It is ours as fast as we go forward 
and possess it. The trouble with many of us 
is, we are satisfied in reaching Gilgal, and 
therefore we fail to see the necessity of taking 
Jericho and capturing all. We fail to recognize 
the fact that the hills are yet to be climbed 
and the giants to be slain. Some of you do 
not see the beauties of the mountain ranges 
and what they stand for. You are content to 
rest in Gilgal. Oh, my brother, you are mak- 
ing a sad mistake! Crossing the Jordan and 
reaching our Gilgal are blessed facts, but there 
are such vast and rich possessions lying before 
us, forests to cut down, mines to explore, gems 
to dig out and wealth in abundance to possess. 
"Wherefore he is able to do exceeding abund- 
antly above all that we can ask or think.' ■ Isn't 
that wonderful? And yet comparatively few 
know its real meaning. 

"Look out, Brother Kelley, you are apt to» 
run off into fanaticism." No, I am not. I am 
not even headed in that direction. And I am 
convinced that if we were one-half as afraid of 
formality as we are of fanaticism that there- 



50 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

would be more power among us. I am not 
headed toward fanaticism, nor am I advocating 
a third blessing, but I am saying: There are 
peaks yet to climb, mines yet to explore, gems 
yet. to come into our possession as we gain our 
rightful inheritances -in Canaan. It is a serious 
mistake to think we have reached all grace 
when we are first sanctified, and that there is 
not ling beyond. 

It has only been recently that I read with de- 
light and profit and experience that came late- 
ly to Dr.. 0. G. Mingledorff of Asbury College. 
Dr. Mingledorff gives an account of it in the 
Pentecostal Herald, from which I take the fol- 
lowing : i ' On the 17th of January I went into a 
meeting in Mt. Vernon, Washington. God 
gave me great blessing to the people, and every. 
thing went on as usual with me until the eve- 
ning of the 25th. I preached in the afternoon 
and went at once to the home of Brother Will- 
man, the pastor of the Swedish M. E. church 
for a rest. * * * I lay down on the sofa. I do 
not know whether I slept or not ; for my soul 
was on a stretch for God. About sunset I 
knelt by the sofa and began praying. In a 
few minutes I realized that my body was 
growing weak, so much so, I found difficulty 
in supporting myself upon my knees. An im- 
pression came over me that I was soon to die; 
but I seemed to care nothing about it. In fact, 
I was so lost in the will of God that I did not 



ENTERING IN 51 

care whether I lived or died. I pulled myself 
up on the sofa, and wondered what was the 
matter, when God's presence became so mani- 
fest that it was oppressive, and yet glorious. 
Then came the ecstasy of the blessing. I have 
no words with which to express the soul rap- 
ture through which I passed during the re- 
maining hours of that evening. * * * 

"I am in no way astonished at what hap- 
pened. For some years the vision of it hung 
before my soul, and I have hungered and 
thirsted after it. * * * Why was I so slow in 
claiming my full inheritance V 9 

Some one asked Dr. Mingledorff if he had 
received "all there is for you in this life?" To 
this he very wisely replied, "No. I have just 
received enough to know that I have just be- 
gun, and that the Canaan life is boundless." 

Dr. C. W. Winchester in his "Fifty Years * ' 
tells of an experience he passed through while 
lying upon the lounge in the sitting room of 
one of his members. Suddenly he was con- 
scious of a bright light flooding the room, al- 
though the curtains were drawn down, and he 
was conscious of the presence of the Divine 
Trinity in the room, revealing to him the 
Triune God, and he could distinguish the three 
persons of the God-head, but rather indistinct- 
ly, although sufficiently clear for him to see 
three persons instead of one. And with the 
revelation came a mighty baptism upon him 



52 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

of the Trinity so that his physical being was 
awed, subdued and overcome to such an extent 
that he was almost helpless. 

Some years ago, while kneeling at the altar 
of the M. E. church, South, Abbottsburg, North 
Carolina, the writer was conscious of the rev- 
elation of the presence of the Divine Trinity 
to him and within his heart, and there burned 
and glowed — I know not how — in three dis- 
tinct fiery flames this Divine Presence within 
my soul, and I was conscious of the three per- 
sons of the God-head possessing my spirit and 
soul and body. It was wonderful! Oh, my 
brother, do not be fearful, but go in for all that 
God has for you! Such divine revelations of 
the presence of God came clearly to De Renty, 
Madam Guyon, William Bramwell, Hester Ann 
Rogers and others after they were sanctified 
wholly, and God is no respecter of persons. 

41 Every place that the sole of your feet 
shall tread upon that have I given unto you." 
This is his word. Why not appropriate it? It 
is meant for us today, as well as for Israel then. 
If we dare, by faith, to step out and put our 
foot upon anything God has promised us, he 
will make it delightfully real to us. "If ye be 
willing and obedient: ye shall eat the good of 
the land." And we are not to forget that that 
takes in the grapes, the honey out of the rock, 
the old corn and the new wine, the figs and the 
pomegranetes and all else. Amen. 



Chapter V. 

Gaining the Victories. 

11 Joshua made war a long time with all those 
kings. There was not a city that made peace 
with the children of Israel, save the Hivites, the 
inhabitants of Gibeon: all others they took in 
battle." 

"So Joshua took the whole land, according to 
all that the Lord said unto Moses." Joshua 
10:18,19, 23. 

In our last study of "The Land of Canaan' ' 
we had entered and gone up as far as Gilgal 
therein. 

In the message for consideration at this 
time we are struck with the necessity of war- 
fare or conflict. And how true is this, as far 
as we who have entered the land in our Chris- 
tian experience is concerned. We have, it 
is true, entered upon the heights of holiness, 
but we are to contend for every foot and inch 
of the land that we come in possession of. To 
hear some people in Canaan talk, one would 
come to the conclusion that all the battles had 
been fought and all the victories that are nec- 
essary had been won, and that such a soul had 
no conflict whatsoever; but this is a mistake. 



54 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

We still have battles to fight and victories to 
win, and the conflict in which we at times are 
engaged is a severe conflict. The apostle Paul 
tells us of such things as "wicked spirits in the 
heavenlies," and he also speaks of the saints 
engaged in a wrestling match, "wrestling with 
the principalities and powers of wickedness." 
The fact is, the nearer one gets to the heaven- 
lies in the Christian life the fiercer the conflict, 
but greater the victory when won. Thus far 
I have painted rather a dark picture, — have I 
not! No, not at all. I would not be guilty of 
so doing. But I do say that it would not do for 
us not to meet with temptations and trials, and 
it is through such conflicts that we learn more 
of temptation, and we also learn how to over- 
come in his name. 

A victorious life, or "the victorious life * ' is 
not life free from the attacks of the devil. Now 
I am not entering into a testimony meeting to 
magnify the devil. I am simply stating facts. 
I am saying this: Satan is always at hand to 
leap upon the soul, and there can be no victory 
if there is no battle. The greater advances 
that you and I make toward our inheritance, 
the more bitter will the opposition become, and 
at times from sources that we least expect it 
and do not look for it. We must go armed for 
war. Every sanctified soul, beloved, believes in 
"preparedness." But we are to recollect that 



GAINING THE VICTORIES 55 

we are not alone in this conflict. "Lo, I am 
with you always ; even unto the end of the age." 
We are to recognize the fact that we have a 
Commander in this campaign, and he it is who 
leads us from victory unto victory. 

It is indeed interesting to note the vision ac- 
corded Joshua before he was permitted to lead 
God's people against the city of Jericho. One 
night, while looking over the field (reconnoiter- 
ing, I believe they call it) he was suddenly 
aware that there stood before him Another. 
The princely leader was no coward. Immed- 
iately he drew his sword and went forth to 
meet this new comer. What right had he to 
be there ? How dared he get in the path of the 
leader of Israel's hosts? What right had this 
armed warrior to interfere with Joshua's 
plans? Not knowing who the warrior was, 
Joshua went forth to meet him and demanded: 
"Art thou for us or for our adversaries V That 
Joshua was astonished at the reply that came 
to him can be no doubt. In a voice that thrilled 
his very soul he got his answer. "Nay, as the 
captain of the Lord's hosts have I come." In 
my imagination I seem to hear something like 
the following pass between the two: "Joshua, 
you thought you were to be the one who was to 
lead this people against Jericho, and up and 
into the land; but I will do that. You have 
been looking the field over, thinking that you 



56 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

will take the city before you; but I will do 
that, Joshua, the place where thou art stand- 
ing is holy ground; take off thy shoes from thy 
feet." One has very beautifully remarked: 
"As Joshua yielded up the command to this 
glorious leader he was led forward into vic- 
tory.' ' 

We will tarry no longer at Jericho just at the 
present, but go on up as far as Ai in our 
journey into Canaan. This was the next place 
to be overcome and, sad to say, the children of 
Israel went up to defeat. We cannot go into 
details as to the victory at Jericho and the de- 
feat at Ai. Suffice it to be said: On the face 
of it, it looks as if Joshua and Israel had be- 
come so elated over the victory they had gained 
at Jericho that they got a bad case of the 
"swell-head" over it. I say, it looks that way. 
Anyway, we do not find any mention made to 
the effect that Joshua consulted God in regard 
to the matter of Ai. It looks as if he depended 
entirely upon human wisdom and plans all to- 
gether. He was not following the heavenly 
captain or commander very closely now. Oh, 
how often have we known of failures of this 
sort! Here is an evangelist who has had a 
most successful and victorious campaign in an- 
other city, where scores have been saved and 
sanctified and, coming in the strength of that 
victorious meeting into another city, he has 



GAINING THE VICTORIES 57 

met with virtual defeat, simply because he did 
not consult God very definitely in the matter. 
It pays to seek God's guidance and direction. 
We have to depend upon his leadership every 
step of the way, beloved. 

The fact is, we are only strong as we are 
strong in Christ. He it is who is our strength. 
We are told to "be strong in the Lord and in 
the power of his might." That does not mean 
that we are to take some strength from him, 
and then go forth depending upon ourselves al- 
so. We are to take all strength from him, all 
the strength we need. If Joshua had consult 3d 
Jehovah he would have gained as great a vic- 
tory at Ai as he did at Jericho, but this is the 
very thing he failed to do. Whenever any man 
begins to trust in his own prowess and wisdom, 
he is apt to go down into defeat. I remember 
being in a union meeting when one of the pas- 
tors took it out of the hands of the other two 
pastors and tried to carry it on for his church's 
sake. I said to my wife: "Mamma, you watch 
what I tell you. God is going to let that 
preacher down beautifully. ' ' I was not mistak- 
en. God let him down beautifully that very 
night. Selah. One of the very worst things 
that can happen to you and me as Christian 
men is for us to trust in ourselves. 

And this leads me to say, brother, all vic- 
tory gotten in Canaan is by faith alone. At 



58 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

the very beginning of the occupation of the 
land this was clearly seen. The writer of the 
Hebrew brings this out very clearly where he 
says : "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down." 
I am reminded of an incident a brother minister 
related to me. He said: "Some years ago 

Brother and I were holding a meeting 

in Missouri, and during a duet we 

were singing the glass chandeliers broke when 
we struck the high note in the song. You 
know everything in the world is set to music. " 
Then he added: "I take the fool idea that the 
ram's horns struck the tones or notes of the 
stones in the walls of Jericho, hence they 
crumbled to the earth." I said nothing, but 
I did think it was a "fool idea" all right. 

The picture we have given us of the capture 
of Jericho is a very vivid one. Faith is seen 
at every turn of the page. And it was such 
faith that followed blindly the leader of the 
hosts of Jehovah. The ark of the covenant went 
ahead and the priests and people followed on. 
This was right. This is right. We cannot walk 
properly with God leading if we get ahead of 
him. We are not to have our way, but we are to 
let him have his way. His way is best. It may 
mean that we are to encompass the city for 
seven successive days, but we can rest assured 
that the seventh day will bring victory. Now 
all this requires patience. "Let patience have 



GAINING THE VICTORIES 59 

her perfect work, that ye may be perfect, en- 
tire, wanting nothing." And the word always 
comes to the loyal, trustful heart: "The Lord 
hath given you the city." And then it is that 
faith sends up the shout of victory that is 
heard by three worlds, as it marches on and up 
and into its possession. It is faith that gained 
the victory, — not the ram's horns, not the 
shouts, but faith. 

But there is another picture with which we 
have to do. It is an entirely different picture 
from that which we have been studying, and the 
lesson we learn from it is, faith must learn the 
secret that is found through failure. With the 
Israelites it was not always victory. It should 
have been, and it could have been. But like 
many an one since entering into Canaan, they 
have failed to seek the will of God in all they 
have undertaken. That is one of the reasons 
why the children of Israel met with defeat at 
Ai. And when defeat did come then it was that 
Joshua sought the Lord. He should have done 
this before going against the city, but he did 
not. The picture that Joshua presents is a sad 
and discouraging one. With "morbid prayers 
and tears" Joshua fell on his face and bewailed 
the defeat that had come to the hosts of Israel. 
Then it is that Jehovah speaks. "Get up from 
your knees. There is a cause for this defeat. 
Sin is in your midst, and future victories can- 



60 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

not be had until you have put the sin from 
your midst." When this command was fol- 
lowed Israel was as strong as ever, 

Now, my brother, if you have failed in your 
life as a sanctified man God is not at fault. 
There is some secret cause, something within 
that heart of yours that God is not at all pleased 
with. And if you are to have future victories 
the accursed thing must be uncovered, dug up 
and cast out. There is no use of trying to fight 
the foe without until the foe within is de- 
stroyed. 

"But why can't I pass on further into the 
land and let Ai alone V* This is the very thing 
you cannot do. Ai is in your path and Ai must 
be destroyed. After the guilty Achan had been 
stoned Jehovah said to Joshua: "Fear not, 
neither be thou dismayed : take all the people of 
war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See I 
have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and 
his people, and his city, and his land." Ex- 
actly! This is what God always does. The 
army won a magnificent victory at the very 
place where they had before met with defeat. 
The same ground was gone over; but God led 
the hosts this time. Be sure, my brother, where 
you have failed once, you will be tested there 
again ; but God is able to give you the victory 
and he will do so if you are but true to his 
leadership. 



GAINING THE VICTORIES 61 

Then there are other lessons that might be 
learned from the children of Israel possessing 
Canaan. Jericho had fallen, Ai had been tak- 
en, but there were other foes to be met and 
overcome. Some of these foes appeared not in 
the "open," but were subtle in their advances. 
It's just like the devil to come at times in some 
disguise and practice deception upon the saints 
of God, and lead them into forbidden paths. 

After the battle of Ai there appeared in the 
camp of Israel the strangest sort of people 
they had ever seen. They were dressed in old 
clothes, their shoes were worn out, and they 
were dirty and dusty with the dust of the roads. 
For us to have seen them we would have nat- 
urally come to the conclusion that they were 
on their way to some "tacky party " put on by 
some Epworth League of some cold, formal, 
worldly church. They told Joshua they had 
come from a distance, and that they had been 
traveling so long and so far that the bread had 
become mouldy and the water was gone and 
they were tired. All of which was rank de- 
ception. Without seeking the mind of Jehovah 
in the matter Joshua entered into a covenant 
with them — the very thing that he had been for- 
bidden to do. When too late he found to his 
surprise and horror that he had entered into 
a league with some of his foes. The trouble 
with Joshua was, he had listened to the voice 



62 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

of human sympathy within his breast and had 
failed to seek God's council in the matter. Now 
liis word had been given and he could not. go 
back on it. He had to abide by the 
covenant. And the result was that 
these people became an endless source 
of trouble to him and the people under him. 

How true to form is all this. If the devil can 
not gain victory one way, he will try something 
else. If he cannot overcome you by an open 
attack, then he will send his emissaries, dis- 
guised as angels if need be, to entrap and lead 
you astray. "Try the spirits and see whether 
they be of God." Do not be in too big a hurry 
to do things that you are hurriedly told to do. 
The devil is always in a hurry, and he hurries 
others. . God is patient and he wants us to be 
patient. Many a man has followed some im- 
pulse or some hasty impression and gotten in- 
to the dark. It may have been endorsing some 
note for a friend, or it may have been forming 
a partnership with some one not a Christian, or 
it may have been some investment, or it may 
have been this, or that, or the other. Whatever 
it was we allowed the devil to trip us and the 1 
memory of the defeat still lingers. 

We cannot, as God's saints, be too careful. 
We ought to be careful how we judge other 
people, or how we come to a hasty decision 
about some matter. We ought to be more care- 



GAINING THE VICTORIES 63 

fill about our reading, our conversation, our 
associations. The only secure piace for the 
best of us is under the shadow ol the Almighty, 
in constant and abiding fellowship and com- 
munion with him. 

There were many conflicts awaiting Joshua. 
Some of them were very serious and critical. 
And we too have these serious and critical con- 
flicts to meet. At times it seems as if all hell 
is let. loose upon us; but God still lives. And 
when such conflicts do come, we a?-e not to 
look upon them as unimportant. They, each 
and every one,are permitted f 01 a purpose. We 
do not understand them at the time and wonder 
why they are being visited upon us, but God 
doeth all things well. Our friends, at times, 
wonder what is the matter with us, and our 
loved ones look at us as if we were strangers. 
They cannot tell the battle through which we 
are passing, but God knows. And if we will 
but trust him and his almighty power, we shall 
find him sufficient, and the hour will come when 
you and I will be able to shout forth the vic- 
tory: " Thanks be unto God which always 
causeth us to triumph." 

The city with which Joshua entered into 
compact became a curse to Israel. And the 
same still holds good. A church or an individ- 
ual that enters into compact with the world is 
bound to suffer thereby. The Centenary eele- 



64 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

bration in Columbus, Ohio, a few years since 
has done more to foster the movies and pag- 
eants and plays in Methodism than all else be- 
side; and our beloved church is being crushed 
under the weight. 

In conclusion. The land, dear heart, is not 
all taken in an hour nor in a day. We may come 
into the right of our inheritance in a moment, 
and we always do whenever we are sancti- 
fied wholly; but our possessions are before us 
and we must take them one at a time. There is 
contained in this a lesson of perseverance. We 
must realize that we are to go forth trustfully 
to meet those things that will oppose us in our 
k dvance in Canaan. And we are always to re- 
member that "it is not by might, nor by pow- 
er; but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." It is 
God who will lead us in every battle, and the 
victory is already ours, because of his lead- 
ing. There are difficulties. Yes, but they are 
none too hard. "God is able to deliever thee." 
With head erect, shoulders thrown well back, 
we can join in singing. 

"Before the battle lines are spread, 
Before the boasting foe is dead, 
I win the fight, though not begun; 
I'll trust and shout, still marching on, 
God, my leader, is he." 



Chapter VI. 

Possessing Our Possessions 

"The Lord your God hath given you * * * 
this land." Joshua 1:13. 

***** There remaineth yet very much land 
to be possessed." Joshua 13:1. 

"How long are ye slack to go to possess the 
land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath 
given you?" Joshua 18:3. 

We stated in a former sermon that Canaan 
is not a land in which there are no conflicts. 

* ' Sure I must fight if I would reign, 
Increase my courage, Lord" — 

holds good as to the life of the sanctified in the 
Land of Canaan. But while all this is true 
we are to recollect that there comes a time 
when we possess what we have conquered, as. 
well as possessing that to which we have set 
claim. 

In the texts for our consideration there are- 
three thoughts presented. (1) "The Lord your 
God hath given you this land." (2) "There- 



66 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. ' ' 
(3) "How long are ye slack to go and possess 
the land?" We shall confine our remarks main- 
ly to the last two of these thoughts. 

1. What is meant by these statements? We 
are to appropriate our possessions; i. e., make 
them ours, and then enjoy the rich blessings 
to be found therein. You have a right to that 
which is yours; and all is yours, because "ye 
are Christ's and Christ is God's." While this 
old Book was written for all, yet it was written 
for you, personally. It was written for me. It 
belongs to you, and it belongs to me. And 
while Jesus died to save all men, yet he died 
to save you; and he died to save me. Cnnst 
belongs to you, and he belongs to me. And 
while every promise in the Book is for us all, 
yet they are meant for you, and they are 
meant for me. And while the Holy Ghost is 
the Divine Sanctifier of every heart that will 
meet the conditions, yet he is your Sanctifier 
and he is my Sanctifier. Oh, there are so many 
things we have a right to in the spiritual 
world, that we do not possess because we have 
never fully believed that they really belong to 
us. 

The thought presented here by the Holy 
Ghost is not that we are to step over into our 
inheritance once in a while, but that we are 
to obtain it and settle down upon it. We must 
not be content with what we have already ob- 



POSSESSING OUR POSSESSIONS 67 

tained, but we are to know all the possibilities 
there are for the human soul in the Canaan 
life of holiness. 

2. Our Inheritance. Israel's inheritance was 
given them by direct promise. Our inherit- 
ance is given us by direct promise from the 
Almighty. There is not one single promise to 
be found in the Book, among its many thou- 
sands, but what is meant for you and me. 
And in it we find promises dealing with the 
spirit and soul and body, and every one of them 
is for us. Among all these we find promises 
applying to our crops, our business, our labor 
and all else; and each and every one is meant 
for us. These are some of the possessions we 
have not yet obtained. God's Book takes in 
the entire range of life. 

Israel received the grant of their inheritance 
through Abraham. And it is through 
Jesus Christ that you and I have re- 
ceived our inheritance. Christ purchased, by 
his blood, our right to our inheritance. If it 
had not been for him we would have had no 
such privilege and opportunity. And this in- 
heritance, beloved, includes all for which Christ 
died. There is included our justification, our 
regeneration, our sanctification, our healing 
and his coming again, and all else that God has 
in store for his people. All of his fulness and 
grace and power is ours through Christ. Oh, 
my brother, there is food for us! Why 



68 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

should any soul go hungry? There is water 
sufficient for every one ! Why should any soul 
turn away with its thirst still unquenched? 

But we must recollect that the inheritance 
of each was separate and distinct from that of 
any one else. The land was divided among the 
tribes of Israel according to the divine plan, 
and also according to the will of God. And, too, 
our inheritance, through Christ is not a collect- 
ive inheritance, but an individual inheritance. 
To each one of us, God gives! according to our 
faith. It is folly for anyone to try to imitate 
another's life or wish for another's experience. 
Why, my brother, I have even seen holiness 
people that I would not care to be like. And, 
too, I have seen holiness people that made my 
very soul hungry — not for their experience — 
but for an experience as deep and as rich as 
theirs. I cannot read the lives of Bishop Ham- 
line, or Benjamin Abbott, or William Bram- 
well but what my soul reaches out for more 
of God. Yet I know full well that I cannot 
be a Bramwell or an Abbott, or a Hamline ; but 
God can give me an experience as deep as 
theirs, if I am but submissive to his will. 

3. The Divine Complaint. "There remaineth 
very much land to be possessed; how long are 
ye slack to possess it ? ' ' It certainly shows that 
there was a lack and neglect of interest on the 
part of the children of Israel that they had 
failed to possess all of their possessions. It cer- 



POSSESSING OUR POSSESSIONS 69 

tainly implies much neglect and failure on our 
part if we do not go in for all that God has for 
us. 

A gentleman from the North some years ago 
went into the South and invested his money in 
coal lands. In some little while the vein of 
coal which had been struck gave out and he 
was much concerned and worried about his 
investment. He was a man who had known 
God rather intimately, but during these years 
he had let his business interfere with his de- 
votions, with the result that he became care- 
less and more or less indifferent. One night 
after retiring he had a dream and in the dream 
he saw One who said to him: "Go deeper." 
This was repeated, if I mistake not, the third 
night, and it made such an impression upon 
the gentleman that he determined to sink the 
shaft deeper, and so informed his foreman, who 
tried to persuade him that it was folly to do so. 
But the gentleman was determined, and when 
he had sunk the shaft quite a number of feet 
deeper he struck a rich vein of iron ore. But 
another lesson he also got from the dream. He 
came to the conclusion that God meant for him 
to go deeper in his spiritual life, and he did ; 
and in doing so he struck a vein of the richest 
gold of God's grace and power and became a 
power for God and with men. 

Oh, beloved, there are depths and heights 
and breadths in Canaan that we have not as yet 



70 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

reached! There are possessions that you and 
I have not obtained. Why? 

In other words, do you possess all the land 
you know anything about? It may be that you 
do, but there is still more ahead. Have you 
received all you have believed for. Or have you 
merely taken it by faith? Have you come up 
to a full realization of God's promises to you? 
The trouble with many of us is, we are content 
or satisfied with what little we have received, 
and if some saintly brother or sister does enter 
upon some new plot of ground we are apt to 
put forth our hand upon the Ark and say: 
"Now, do be careful. Don't go too fast. I am 
so afraid of fanaticism." Listen, beloved! If 
we were one-half as fearful of coldness and 
formality among us as we are of fanaticism, I 
am satisfied in my own mind that we would have 
more power with God and man than what we 
do have. But it is not necessary to be either 
formal or fanatical. 

Let us look further into our privileged inher- 
itance and see where we are. Have you reached 
"all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the 
work of faith with power?" Can you say 
that God is filling you "with the knowledge 
of his will in all wisdom and spiritual under- 
standing?" Are you being "filled with the 
fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus 
Christ, unto the glory and praise of God?" Oh, 
my brother, hear this! "Now unto him that is 



POSSESSING OUR POSSESSIONS 71 

able to do exceeding adundantly above all we 
can ask or think." Think of that! Then let 
us not hold back, but put our souls on the reach 
for all of God we can possibly have in this life. 
And he has promised to supply our needs 
through Jesus Christ. 

The difficulty is, there are so many who are 
fearful or reluctant to obey or follow God's 
leadings. But if we are to keep abreast of God, 
we must follow as he leads. God knows our 
heart. He knows our capacity. He knows how 
much each one can stand, and he will lead us 
accordingly; he will enrich us accordingly. 
Lead on, God, lead on ! 

At this time there were seven tribes that had 
not come into their possession. Who was to 
blame? Surely God was not. The land was 
before them. Their possessions had been al- 
lotted to them, but somehow they seemed con- 
tent to abide at Shiloh where the tent had been 
pitched. They were making no progress, and 
kept others from making progress. There was 
nothing "stirring" as far as they were per- 
sonally concerned. How like the church of to- 
day is this! She seems — but not as a whole, 
thank God ! — to be content with what land she 
has come into possession of, her well trained 
choirs, her magnificent buildings, her wealth, 
her well organized societies ; but along spiritual 
lines she is failing to make the advance that 
God would have her make. My heart is made 



72 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

to bleed over the lack of power in my own be- 
loved Methodism. And I am sure we can never 
have the power we ought to have, and make 
the spiritual advance we ought to make, as 
long as we give our sanction to pool and billard 
tables, pageants and shows, movies and other 
worldly and ungodly amusements within her 
dedicated precincts. Oh, if the church of God 
would but possess her inheritance, what a pow- 
er she would be ! 

It is a dark picture that I have drawn, but I 
want you know that the least inheritance in 
Canaan means complete separation from the 
world; and this will inevitably bring the ex- 
perience of entire sanctification. The church 
of today needs to be awakened. One has said, 
"It is deemed exceptional to find such lives as 
Fletcher, or Wesley, and other saintly lives. 
It ought to be the rule. ,, Faith like that of 
George Mueller or A. B. Simpson, or Judson 
Taylor, is looked upon as a prodigy, but God 
wants all of us to have a perfect faith ; a faith 
that laughs at the impossible. For God dwells 
among impossibles. 

4. The Reason for Coming Short. That there 
were reasons why the seven tribes fell short 
there can be no boubt. That there are reas- 
ons why we fall short of our complete inherit- 
ance in Canaan, there can be no doubt. Let us 
examine some of these reasons. 

(1) We are too easily satisfied with what we 



POSSESSING OUR POSSESSIONS 73 

already have come into possession of. We take 
things too easy, and we become indolent and in- 
different. I said to a brother minister : ' * I came 
very near, more than once, going into the * * * 
church." His reply was: "They are not doing 
anything, Brother Kelley, but having a good 
time, and God wants a fellow to do something 
else besides have a good time." As to the 
charges against that church, I knew he was 
mistaken, and took the opportunity of calling 
his attention to some of the things they were 
doing for the Kingdom. But the thing I am 
saying is: God does not care if we do have a 
good time among ourselves, but he does care 
whether the "good time" is working out in 
such a way that we are proving a blessing and 
help to others around about us. I believe in 
shouting, but I am sure that the Lord wants 
us to do something beside shout. I believe in 
singing, but I am sure that God wants us to do 
something besides sing. He wants us to pos- 
sess our possessions, every one of them. 

(2) Then, too, it looks as if fear kept much 
of the people back from their rightful inher- 
itance. They were afraid to go out against 
their foes, and hence they were left uncon- 
quered. You will recall that Jebus was not 
taken until in the days of David. Oh yes, I 
know that "perfect love casteth out fear;" 
but the fear I am speaking of is not the fear 
that is mentioned in that passage, God calls us 



74 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

to higher heights in Canaan, and we become 
fearful we can never reach them, forgetting 
tnat God never calls any man to do the impos- 
sible. He calls us to this conquest and that 
conquest, and we are fearful we can not over 
come the foes with which we are to contend. 
!Lo w about God in the matter? Is he dead? 

(3) They failed because the greater num- 
ber of the tribes held back. They did not 
care to go out alone and gain victory. Oh, 
how often is that spirit seen even today! "I 
would seek the experience of sanctification but 
1 do not care to be misunderstood.' ' Are you 
any better than your Lord? "I would get the 
blessing, brother, but I am fearful it will hurt 
my standing in the Conference." Well, it is 
apt to do that very thing; but if you don't 
get the blessing it will affect your standing 
with the Almighty God. Which is the most 
important, your standing with your Confer- 
ence or your standing with your God? "I would 
go in for greater possessions in Canaan, but 
I am fearful I will be misunderstood by the 
'dear brethren'." Well suppose you are? 
What does it matter anyway? God under- 
stands you, and that is all that is necessary. 

"How long are ye slack to possess the 
land?" Is not God saying this to some heart 
at the present time? There may be some soul 
here who has not entered into Canaan and God 
is asking you, beloved: "How long are you 



POSSESSING OUR POSSESSIONS 75 

going to remain in your present unsanctified 
state?" Now listen, while I say this very 
quietly: You cannot receive the light of holi- 
ness and reject it and be the same man there- 
after; for the man who wilfully rejects God's 
word and truth cannot retain his justified 
state. It is only as we walk in the light that 
we have fellowship with God. You and every 
other man are called upon to make use of all the 
light God gives you, and at the earliest oppor- 
tunity. If you let your inheritance go by de- 
fault you will inevitably suffer on account of 
it. 

There is not a crown hung up in the corri- 
dors of heaven but what some one is to wear it ; 
and it might as well be you as some one else. 
And you will wear no crown that is intended 
for another brow. Nor will you enter upon the 
inheritance that God has for someone else. 
Each one has his or her separate inheritance. 
You cannot possess mine, neither can I possess 
yours. 

Listen, my brother! You and I are getting 
older every day. Some of these days it will be 
said of us that we are "well stricken in years." 
Suppose you should never have another oppor- 
tunity to receive from God all he offers you 
today? And you may not have such an op- 
portunity again, — I know not. Time takes its 
flight, never to return. Our yesterdays are 
gone forever ; we cannot recall them. The shell 



76 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

that leaves the gun can never be stopped. It 
is a serious thing, a dangerous thing, to refuse 
to walk in the light of an holy God. You will 
have no opportunity in heaven to learn of ho- 
liness. You must learn of it here. 

"But, Brother Kelley, you don't know what 
trials I have to meet with in my home." "And 
you don't know what it will mean to me and 
my standing in the church if I should profess 
to be sanctified." Yes, I do. I know some- 
thing of the trials in the home ; and I know that 
I had to die out to my church, and all else. And 
I declare unto you, that if you will take God 
at his word he will bring you forth more than 
conqueror. Caleb never would have gained 
Hebron if he had never faced the giants of 
"the hill country." Hebron is one of the 
choice possessions of the land, and God calls 
you and me to face the giants and possess our 
Hebrons. 

My brother, God calls us to go out into the 
land where we have our inheritance and meet 
face to face every foe, every difficulty, every 
temptation, and every trial, and in a hand-to- 
hand conflict overcome them in the name of our 
Lord and Christ. Are you ready for the fray? 
Bless Jehovah, my soul! Lead on,0 God, 
lead on! 

This is the life that God is calling each one of 
us to. Will you not follow on as he shall lead! 



Chapter VII 
The Saints' True Inheritance. 

<<* * # p or t ke Lord thy God is with thee 
whithersoever thou goest." — Joshua 1:9. 

Some one has said: "The highest Christian 
life is not the experience of holiness, or even 
of the richest gifts and graces of the Holy 
Spirit, but the life of Christ himself manifest 
in our mortal flesh." While this may be true, 
in the sense that the writer meant it, yet we 
have to be very guarded just at this point for 
fear the emphasis needed to be placed on the 
experience of entire sanctification is lost sight 
of as a second definite work of grace. It was 
but recently that I was in a meeting where the 
evangelist gave somewhat of a Bible reading, 
although it was a sermon, on holiness, and when 
speaking of the abundance of love, he was not 
guilty of placing the wrong emphasis upon the 
wrong word or in the wrong place, but when 
the altar call was given there came forward a 
good sister seeking the "abundance of love," 
and professing to be sanctified. Brother Euth 
very kindly said: "Sister if you have the ex- 
perience of sanctification you also haVe the 
abundant love." Exactly! That Jesus re- 



78 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

veals himself to the soul in regeneration there 
can be no doubt, and that he is revealed more 
fully to the heart in sanctification there can be 
no doubt, for then it is that he comes to take 
up his abode within the heart and life. But 
there is a deeper sense in which Jesus, even after 
we have entered into the Canaan life, is mani- 
fest in our heart and life. The apostle on the 
road to Damascus had Christ revealed to him, 
then later he had Christ revealed in him, and 
as he went forward obeying explicitly the 
heavenly calling he could say that his life was 
hid with Christ in God. Paul lived the hidden 
life, where self was not seen but where Jesus 
was seen. 

But let us notice the blessed truth of Christ's 
presence as is revealed to us in the book of 
Joshua. It will pay us to do so, and if we 
keep humble and teachable before God, I am 
sure we shall be well rewarded in studying 
these truths. 

1. God's Promise of His Presence. His pres- 
ence was to be the prescription against every 
fear and foe, as well as the ground for every 
step of faith. " There shall not a man be able 
to stand before thee all the days of thy life: 
as I was with Moses so will I be with thee. Be 
not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the 
Lord, thy God, is with thee wheresoever thou 
goest." When one takes into consideration 



THE SAINTS TRUE INHERITANCE 79 

how Jehovah was with Moses as he went out 
and in among God's people, then does he get 
some idea of what such a promise meant to 
Joshua. The fact is, this promise is one of the 
great promises of the Book. It was meant for 
Joshua, it is true but it is meant for us too. The 
presence of God with us whithersoever we go- 
eth, thank God! 

In a previous sermon I took occasion to re- 
fer to the faith of Abraham. Abraham knew 
nothing but God, and Jehovah's great promise 
to him was : ' l Fear not ; I am thy shield and thy 
great reward." And so God was. And so God 
is. When Isaac was driven from place to place 
by the Philistines, it is likely that he did not 
understand why it was, but God spake to him : 
"Fear not, I am with thee and will bless thee." 
And then Isaac evidently understood some- 
what why these hindrances were. It was when 
Jacob was fleeing from the face of his angry 
brother that Jehovah appeared to him and said : 
"I am with thee, and will keep thee in all 
places whither thou goest, and will bring thee 
again into this land." Is not that wonderful, 
to let God keep us in all places? And. too, God 
is always ready to lead a soul back into Ca- 
naan after it has once been there and for some 
reason has left. 

You will never forget that picture out there 
in the desert, will you? It was at the burning 



80 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

bush, when God appeared to Moses in the fire. 
It was here that Moses received his divine com- 
mission to become the leader of God's chosen 
people. You will recall how Moses held back 
and begged to be excused, because he was slow 
of speech. But what did God say? "Certain- 
ly I will be with thee, and with thy mouth. ' ' It 
is all right when God is with our mouth. No 
fear of it ever "going off" at random and get- 
ting us into trouble. No fear of it talking 
about neighbors and speaking unkindly and un- 
justly about the preacher. Now God did not 
promise to make Moses the most eloquent and 
the most brilliant preacher of his day, but he 
did say that he would be with him, and in that 
power Moses went forth and prevailed. 

The truth is, this blessed thought runs 
clear through the Book. The prophecy of Isa- 
iah is rich with such blessed truths, and the 
prophets of the restoration echo ,the same 
blessed message of hope and comfort. In the 
New Testament we find the same thought run- 
ning through it as a thread of crimson. But 
there is this difference between the Old and the 
New Testament. In the Old Testament God's 
promise was that he should be with his peo- 
ple, while in the New Testament he not only 
promised to be with his people but also to be 
in them. 

I repeat, this blessed thought of the presence 



THE SAINTS TRUE INHERITANCE 81 

of God runs through the Book from beginning 
to the end. And it is all for our own encourage- 
ment and comfort. 

2. The Vision of Joshua. It was shortly af- 
ter the children of Israel had crossed the Jor- 
dan into the land, and while their leader was 
looking over the field around Jericho that the 
vision came. Suddenly Joshua was aware of 
the presence of another beside himself and be- 
ing the brave man that he was he went for- 
ward and demanded why he was there. Then 
it was that the Captain of the Lord's hosts 
made himself known, and it was no one but 
Jesus Christ himself, in his pre-incarnate state, 
that appeared to Joshua upon this occasion. 

And from this time on Joshua believed that 
there walked with him and beside him a Pres- 
ence that he had not known so well before ; and 
this Presence was none other than that of 
God's own Son. Moses' successor was no long- 
er to look upon himself as the commander or 
leader of the hosts of Israel, for now he was to 
follow the Divine Commander, resting assured 
that wherever he led victory was assured. 
Joshua had received the promise of his pres- 
ence and that was sufficient. And the promise 
of his presence should be sufficient for any of 
us. But, listen! Are you, beloved, conscious 
of the presence of God with you and in you? 
Has the blessed Holy Ghost revealed his pres- 



82 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

ence within your soul? He can do so, and to 
the really earnest seeking heart he will do so. 

There are two little words found in the New 
Testament that have reference to the conscious 
presence of Jesus. They are " believe" and 
"know". We do believe in Jesus — do we not? 
We do have some conception of him — do we 
not? But do we know him? Has he, as the 
Captain of our salvation, revealed himself to 
us? Do we know him as our personal Savior 
and Sanctifier? Are we conscious that he abides 
within our hearts as our wisdom and righteous- 
ness and sanctification ? During the journey- 
ings through the wilderness God was with his 
people. But how? In the cloud by day and in 
the fire by night. But it was not until they had 
reached Canaan that Joshua became conscious 
of the felt presence of Jehovah with them, his 
manifest presence. One's vision and conception 
of Jesus are always brighter and clearer after 
the soul has entered upon its inheritance in the 
Canaan of Perfect Love. 

Builded upon the top of one of the peaks in 
our Pacific range there is an observatory. It 
would not have done to have erected it in the 
valleys or on the levels where the mists and the 
clouds would have obscured the vision. It had 
to be above the fogs and the mists, in the 
clear, transparent light where the vision would 
be unhindered. And, beloved, we too must get 



THE SAINTS TEUE INHERITANCE 83 

up from the fogs and mists of this old world, 
up on the heights, if we are to have the full 
clear presence of Jesus Christ within the soul. 
And whenever we have such a vision, being 
conscious of his presence, such a fact will be 
demonstrated in different ways, as we go forth 
in his name. 

And to have victory that is full and complete, 
we must see to it that we are not depending 
upon our own prowess or our own strength- 
Self must die, and to possess the vision of Je- 
sus that we ought to have and must have, this 
is one of the first things we should see to : the 
crucifixion of the self-life. Joshua was dead 
to the wilderness life at this time, and all oth- 
er evils, but he was conscious that he had be- 
come the successor of Moses and that he was 
therefore the leader of God's hosts. It was 
while he was planning the overthrow of Jericho 
that Jehovah cut across his pathway and vir- 
tually said to him: "No, Joshua, it is not you 
who will lead these people into battles and unto 
victories ; but it is I. I will now take the lead 
and fight the battles; you just follow me and 
all will be well." This may have come as a 
surprise to the brave warrior, and it changed 
the very center of Joshua's life, but it paid. 

This, beloved, is a form of spiritual dying 
that comparatively few, I fear, know anything 
about. And when we die out to our leadership, 



84 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

our pre-eminence, and such like, things will 
take their natural place and the burden will be 
upon our divine Captain, and he will gladly 
bear the burden for us. The apostle evidently 
had this spiritual conception of dying out to 
things when he said: "I die daily.' * It is true 
that God had been made unto him "righteous- 
ness and sanctification and redemption," and 
all in all, and he had learned the secret of cour- 
age and victory. But this way, beloved, is a 
lone way. You will have but few associates 
and the resources — humanly speaking — will 
not be very many, but with him we can and 
will prevail. Thank God ! 

During the Civil War, so it is stated, when 
the Federal forces under a certain commander 
were meeting with reverses, that the commander 
heard of it and mounting his horse rode to Win- 
chester and turned the defeat into a magnifi- 
cent victory. His very presence brought cour- 
age and new life to the hearts of his soldiers, 
and the tide was turned. Oh, my brother, if 
we would only realize who it is that goes be- 
fore us in the way, in the hardest places and 
the most difficult fields, how little would we 
fear the enemy. For we would be continually 
led from victory unto victory. Bless his name. 

3. Christ Our Inheritance. This is, or better 
yet, he is the true inheritance of the saints. You 
will recall that in the division of the land the 



THE SAINTS TRUE INHERITANCE 85 

tribe of Levi had no inheritance nor lot. The 
reason of it was, Jehovah was their inheritance. 
And so is Jesus Christ our true inheritance. He 
is not only the source of our wisdom, but he is 
our wisdom. He is not merely the source of our 
strength, but he is our strength. Not only is 
he the source of all power, but he is all power. 
In other words, beloved, Jesus Christ is all and 
everything we need in the spiritual life. Do we 
believe this? Have we found this to be true 
as to our own heart and life ? Well, my broth- 
er, you may find this to be so. 

If you and I are to be what God would have 
us be, and if he is to use us whenever he thinks 
best, then we should find in him all the resources 
of faith and wisdom and love. Hallellujah ! We 
must recollect that the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit not only sanctifies the believer's spirit 
and soul and body, but that there is included 
therein every quality essential or necessary 
for all spiritual life and power. Thank God! 
Included in the wonderful victorious exper- 
ience is a faith that believes God and laughs at 
impossibilities, the power of prayer, the spirit 
of testimony and wisdom that is so much need- 
ed in working for the salvation of others. 

Christ our inheritance. Yours and mine. 
That is what is meant. He belongs to us. This 
thought is brought out rather clearly in the 
meaning of one of the Canaan cities, Timnath- 



86 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

Serah. It means the City of the Sun, and it 
is a beautiful type of what Jesus Christ be- 
comes to us, as the Sun of Righteousness aris- 
ing with healing in his wings, for spirit and 
soul and body. 

One of the characteristics of sunlight is the 
bringing of good cheer and happiness to the 
despondent spirit. People, as a rule, feel bet- 
ter on a bright day, when the sun is shin- 
ing. So when our Sun shines upon us and in 
our hearts, we are made to rejoice, and we too 
are filled with good cheer. "In thy presence 
there is fullness of joy." In Canaan the sun 
shines, and at times a cloud may gather; but 
the sun is still shining. Never a cloud so dark 
or heavy, but it has a silver lining. 

Ah, dear heart, Timnath-Serah is a city of 
everlasting light and brightness. What is it 
we are told ? Listen ! ' ' Thy sun shall no more 
go down, * * * but the Lord shall be their ever- 
lasting light, and thy God thine glory.' ' 

There is an altitude in the spiritual life, be- 
loved, where no cloud can reach us and where 
the mists do not gather to obscure our heav- 
enly vision. Sorrows? Yes, we have them, but 
we are looking at them from the heights of the 
heavenlies ; for we are now dwelling with Christ 
in the heavenlies. And that simply means that 
there is a blessed fellowship with Jesus here 
that need never be interrupted, a sunlight that 



THE SAINTS TRUE INHERITANCE 87 

need never be withdrawn, a peace that passeth 
all understanding and that need never be bro- 
ken. 

Oh, yes, beloved, we may have our trials and 
testings and temptations, and we shall while 
we live here ; but, thanks be unto God, he will 
enable us to overcome them and become more 
than conquerors. 

Is this your experience? Well, it can be. 
If you will but trust God and let him lead you 
and never hold back as he leads you in the way, 
he will see to it that you too will come to your 
Timnath-Serah. 

I have seen Christians who have lived for 
years in Timnath-Serah, the city of the mid- 
night sun. They were tranquil in their souls, 
joyous in the presence of an ever abiding Sav- 
ior as their eternal Sanctifier. I have looked 
upon them with the sunshine in the soul and the 
sunshine on the face, with laughter in the heart 
and hallelujahs coming from the lips; and it 
was all due to the fact that they had left the 
wilderness and the manna behind and had 
crossed over Jordan into Canaan and were now 
in possession of their inheritance. 

Have you such an experience as this, be- 
loved? If you have not, you can have it. 
dear soul, open thou thine heart to him ! Open 
up every window of the soul and let him come 
in in his full sanctifying power, and the flood- 



88 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

tides of salvation and power and glory will 
possess you. Hallelujah ! 

This is the gospel that a dying world is in 
need of, and the churches are failing to give. 
And this is the gospel that a cold, Luke-warm, 
careless, indifferent, worldly church is in need 
of and will not have. The world does not 
need a creed, nor does a church need dogmat- 
ics. What the world needs is new life in Christ 
Jesus, and what the church needs is that the 
flood gates be opened toward Jehovah that the 
flood tides of grace and glory may flow in. 

The big preachers tell us that this nation will 
soon be brought to Christ. I wish it were so, 
but when we take into consideration the little 
progress that has been made within the past 
three hundred years since the Pilgrims landed 
at Plymouth Rock, I am fearful that the big 
preachers do not know what they are saying. 
Of the more than one hundred million people 
in the United States there are only forty-one 
per cent who claim to be Christians at all. And 
included in this forty-one per cent there are 
Roman Catholics, Christian Scientists, Unitar- 
ians and Universalists. What light and hope 
is the church of God holding out to the other 
fifty-nine per cent? You cannot save a man 
by playing billiards or pool with him. He has 
more sense than you, for he knows that if you 
were a true Christian you would not be guilty 



TIIE SAINTS TRUE INHERITANCE 89 

of playing these games of chance. You cannot 
save a man's soul by feeding his mind with the 
movies, for he has more sense than you. He 
knows that the church is backslid and become 
worldly, for if it were not so these things would 
not be allowed in the churches. My brother, 
no preacher or set of preachers can fool the 
world. They know some things that some 
preachers do not seem to know. Whenever the 
church patterns after the world, right then she 
has lost her grip upon the world. 

I admire fine church buildings. But what 
God wants is something beside temples of 
stone or brick. He wants his sanctuary to be 
transparent so that he can shine upon it and 
through it upon the needy, sin-sick souls and 
lives. The temple that God is the most interest- 
ed in is the temple of the Holy Ghost, not a tem- 
ple made with hands. "Know ye not that ye 
are the temples of the Holy Ghost V ' God wants 
to shine in every avenue of our being, that we 
may reflect the light of his grace and power and 
glory. Will we not yield to him right now, and 
let him come as our rightful inheritance and 
graciously cleanse, fill and abide? 



Chapter VIII. 

Wholly Following Jehovah, 

"But I wholly followed the Lord my God." 
Joshua 14:8. 

These words are the words of a man who 
knew what he was talking about. The chil- 
dren of Israel had been wanderers for forty- 
odd years in the wilderness on account of their 
rebellion at Kadesh Barnea. But now they had 
crossed over Jordan — the second generation — 
and were in the Land of Canaan. Among the 
number who entered the land, belonging to the 
former generation, there were two men who had 
been true to God when the test came, — Joshua 
and Caleb. It is the latter that our study is 
about at this time. 

Seven years of warfare had been gone 
through and many battles had been fought and 
many gracious victories had been won. Plans 
are now being put into operation for the divi- 
sion of the land. But before doing so it was 
right and proper that Caleb should have se- 
cured unto him that promise which had been 
made him some forty-odd years before. And he 
comes before Joshua, accompanied by others 
of his own tribe, and urges his claim. 



WHOLLY FOLLOWING JEHOVAH 91 

This is a beautiful picture if we will only 
take time to study it. The setting is well worth 
the brush of any artist. It is a picture ot de- 
votement to God and his cause. And in it I 
find some thoughts that may be of special ben- 
efit to us. Let us study the lessons contained 
therein. 

Caleb's life was a life that was built upon 
the promises of God. Well is it for any one 
to build upon the divine promises of the Book. 
For forty-five years Caleb had hid God's word 
"in his heart." That is, he had lived upon it, 
thought about it, believed it and cherished it 
as true; and he therefore had a right to do a 
thing he did, to come forward and claim the 
perfect fulfillment of the promise made him 
some years before. And why not? Every 
child of God, if he or she is wholly following 
the Lord, has a perfect right to lay claim to 
the promises of God, and urge their very ful- 
fillment in their own behalf. A life upon the 
promises of Jehovah has a different estimate 
of life than is current among the most of us 
today. 

Two promises were given unto Caleb. One 
was that he should have a long life, and the 
other that he should possess that portion of Ca- 
naan into which he had so bravely entered as 
one of the spies. 

The fact is, that whoever builds his life up- 



92 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

on the promises of God has much to be grate- 
ful for. He has not only the present blessings 
accorded him, but he has blessings laid up for 
him here and hereafter. And as he journeys on 
toward the eternal goal, he will ever find 
" trickling brooks by the way" from which he 
may drink and drink and satisfy his thirsty 
soul. The present blessings carry with them 
a pledge of larger and better things from God 
if we are true to him and his service. 

We may also draw this lesson from Caleb. 
The life builded upon faith such as his, is a 
life of buoyancy unto the end. It is just like 
God to keep the "good wine" until the last, 
and when our natural hopes are beginning to 
grow dim then it is that the mountain of the 
inheritance that God holds out to us will show 
up clearer and more attractive upon the hor- 
izon of our spiritual life. 

Caleb's life was of such a nature that he 
could afford to look back at it without any 
question mark being placed in its pathway, as 
far as we have learned. There is no mock mod- 
esty shown in this man. He refers to the time 
when he and Joshua stood alone in the midst 
of the false spies and urged the people to go 
forward and possess the land. He refers to the 
time, because he had a perfect right to do so. 
It is not a lack of modesty when one boldly 
and graciously tells of the time when God, for 



WHOLLY FOLLOWING JEHOVAH 93 

Christ's sake, forgave them of their personal 

transgressions and regenerated their soul. Nor 
is it boasting to speak of the hour when God, 
for Christ's sake, applied the blood to the 
heart, sanctifying and making the soul clean 
and pure in his sight, fitting it up for this 
world and the world to come. Caleb gave his 
testimony in sincerity and with conviction 
born of heaven, and he had a rght to say: "I 
wholly followed the Lord my God." He had 
found that it paid to do so. And it always pays 
my brother, to wholly follow the Lord, no mat- 
ter where he may lead us. And whenever the 
heart is fully given to Jesus it will wholly fol- 
low where he may lead, and we will know that 
we are doing the right thing, and others will 
know also that we are following close to the 
side of our Guide. It was nearly half a cen- 
tury since the incident referred to by Caleb 
had occurred, but it had made such a deep im- 
pression upon his mind that he had never got- 
ten rid of it. 

It is not every one who can give such a 
blessed testimony. Many a professed Chris- 
tian man looks back over his life and sees 
here and there where he has failed. The retro- 
spect is not very pleasant, is it, to many of you ? 
The only thing that makes life worth while at 
all, beloved, is that it shall have been given 
fully into God's hands and will, and that we 



94 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

too are able to say: "I have wholly followed 
the Lord my God." 

Caleb's life is a life that had discovered the 
secret of perpetual youth. Centuries ago Ponce 
de Leon landed upon the shores of Florida 
seeking the fountain of perpetual youth and 
found it not. But he failed to search in the 
right way and the proper place. Thank God, 
some of us have discovered it! It is found in 
Florida and Maine and Washington and Cali- 
fornia. The fact is, it can be found wherever 
the human soul meets God face to face. I offer 
this fountain of perrenial youth to every soul 
here this morning. It is Jesus Christ in his 
fullness coming in and possessing us. "I will 
give him a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life." Exactly! Thank God, I 
have found it. Amen. "I," says Caleb, at the 
age of eighty-five, "am as strong this day as 
I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my 
strength was then, even so is my strength now, 
for war, both to go out and to come in." Ex- 
actly! He was ready for any conflict. The 
giants of Hebron were to be overcome and put 
to flight. They could not stay there if Caleb 
possessed the city. Though a man of eighty- 
five Caleb went forth to battle and won the 
victory. And, my brother, it is ever thus. God 
and man is always the majority. Oh, why are 
we so slow in learning this truth? To the man 



WHOLLY FOLLOWING JEHOVAH 95 

who is fully given over to God and wholly 
follows him, what are a few giants anyway? 
Hebron lies just before you and it is well worth 
fighting for. Of course some one is ready to 
say: "In Caleb's case it was a miraclous in- 
tervention. ' ' Well, suppose it was. If he had 
thrown God aside and gone forth in his own 
prowess and strength he would have gone 
down in defeat. Any man who goes 
forth in his own power will meet defeat. 
You try to overcome the devil in your own 
might and see what he will do to you. You try 
to overcome sin and the temptations that lead 
you into byways of wrong in your own strength 
leaving God out of the program, and down you 
will go. Of course it was through miraclous 
intervention. The fact is, the secret of per- 
petual youth lies just here, in giving our hearts 
fully to God and wholly following our Lord. 
Many a young man lies upon the reefs today 
a wreck because he failed to take God into life 
with him. Many a young woman is being 
swallowed up in the maelstrom of sin, and are 
human wrecks because they too have failed 
to take God into their lives. 

The late Dr. McClaren well puts it: "One of 
the greatest and most blessed characteristics of 
youth is the consciousness that the most of life 
lies before us; and to a Christian man, in any 
stage of his earthly life, that consciousness is 



96 THE LAND OP CANAAN 

possible. When he stands on the verge of the 
last sinking sandbank of time, and the water 
is up to his ankles, he may well feel that the 
best and most of life is yet to be. ' ' 

I have seen gnarled and twisted trees green 
in all their branches, and laden with fruit and it 
was a beautiful sight. What is the parable? 
This, "the ideal of life is, that into each stage 
we shall carry the best of the preceding, har- 
monized with the best of the new, and that is 
possible to the Christian soul." Ah ! My broth- 
er, the fountain of perpetual youth is no fable 
at all. Thank God ! It is a blessed fact, and it 
rises where Ezekiel saw the stream coming 
forth, from the threshold of God's abiding 
place. 

Caleb was no braggart. He meant no boast 
when he spoke of his strength, but rather they 
were words of thanksgiving and praise, and this 
is made the ground for his request. But is it 
not a magnificant picture we are looking upon? 
Look at the old man, if you will, as he stands 
before Joshua straight and strong and manly, 
with a strength renewed as that of the eagle, 
eyes flashing, head thrown back, shoulders 
squared as he makes his appeal and giving as 
one of the reasons why he desires this particu- 
lar inheritance: "Now, therefore, give me this 
mountain, for the Anakim (the giants) are 
there, and the cities great and fenced up." But 



WHOLLY FOLLOWING JEHOVAH 97 

what cared a man like this for giants? What 
does any soul care for giants when that soul 
is wholly following the Lord ? 

Caleb had been in other battles before and 
was not fearful. He had seen victory perch up- 
on the banners of God's hosts more than once. 
Now he was ready for one more conflict — the 
greatest conflict he had ever faced — and his 
readiness for this conflict was his reliance upon 
Jehovah. "It may be that the Lord will be 
with me." There is no doubt in his mind as to 
Jehovah's presence with him. In humility he 
is giving expression to his thoughts. 

Ah! Here is a real God's man. See his eyes 
flash as his voice rings out clear and victorious : 
"I shall drive them out, as Jehovah spake." 
Thank God for the "I stalls!" That is what 
we all need, beloved, holy boldness and deter- 
mination. "I shall do so-and-so because God 
has said it." Caleb's faith had the true ring. 
What were the sons of Arba when put along 
side a faith like that? We would never let 
the difficulties before us weaken our aggres- 
siveness and determination. It is wrong to do 
so. If the old familiar hymn had been written 
at that time it is likely that we would have 
heard Caleb singing: 

"Oh, for a faith that will not shrink, 
Though pressed by every foe." 



98 THE LAND OF CANAAN 

And it is likely that he would have added 
instead : 

■"I have a faith that will not shrink, 
When pressed by every foe ; 

because wholly following the Lord my Grod he 
it is who giveth the victory." To be sure Caleb 
drove out the Anakim. And, my brother, noth- 
ing can stand against us if we are following the 
Lord and doing his bidding. It is not where 
the advantages are in our favor, but where the 
dangers are rife and the difficulties harder to 
©vercome that God can give us the greater 
victories. Caleb went forth into the fight 
girded with supernatural power and conquered 
every foe. And in gaining the victory he se- 
cured one of the choice inheritances of Canaan, 
Hebron. 

The fact that there were walled cities and 
giants behind the battlements may have been 
an incentive for Caleb choosing this most grac- 
ious possession as a place suited to him. The 
church is filled with people who are seeking 
easy berths, and but few of us are seeking out 
the difficult and hard fields. The true spirit of 
the soldier of Jesus Christ is not to run from 
difficult posts or hard fields, but to push out 
and up and in, and Hebron will become ours, 
Hebron, a place of natural beauty, surrounded 
by a valley of great fertility, and one of the 
chief cities of Canaan. 



WHOLLY FOLLOWING JEHOVAH 99 

Hebron means " friend* ' and it is significant 
of our relation with Jesus Christ in a spiritual 
sense. "I no longer call you servants, but 
friends." In this expression of the Master's 
we have the two works of grace typified. He- 
bron was a choice possession, and to the soul 
fully yielded to God it is still a choice posses- 
sion, a possession of the richest and sweetest of 
all the graces — LOVE. 

If we are to possess Hebron, brother, Anak 
must be killed. Anak means "long neck." 
There you have it : haughtiness, pride, selfish- 
ness. These are the principle things that hin- 
der us from wholly following our Lord. 

Have you taken Hebron, beloved? Well you 
may. It lies there before you. And as you 
take possession of the city and go on and pos- 
sess the "upper and nether springs" of spirit- 
ual and temporal blessings, conscious that Jesus 
is with you, your inheritance will become a 
paradise ; and wells of living water will spring 
up within your soul until it shall blossom 
with the divine graces like some heavenly 
garden planted by the hand of God, sending 
forth its rich fragrance to those with whom 
you come into contact. Let God come into 
your heart and fully possess your life, and the 
artesian waters will flow abundantly. Thank 
God ! Amen. 



CHAPTER IX 

Border-Land Christians 

"Now the children of Reuben and the chil- 
dren of Gad had a very great multitude of 
cattle; and when they saw the land of Jazer, 
and the land of Gilead that, behold the place 
was a place for cattle; the children of Gad 
and the children of Reuben came and spake 
unto Moses, and to Eleazer the priest, and 
unto the princes of the congregation, saying, 

# # * rp^ e j an( j winch Jehovah smote before 
the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle ; 

* * * And they said, If we have found favor 
in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy 
servants for a possession; bring 1 us not over 
the Jordan." Numbers 32: 1, 2, 4 and 5. 

Israel at this time was confronting the land 
of Canaan. Midian had been smitten, the 
booty had been divided; and the people of 
God were now near to the Jordan which ran 
between them and their inheritance which 
they were to possess in Canaan. But there 
were those among the Israelites who were con- 
tent to remain where they were, the tribes of 



BORDER-LAND CHRISTIANS 101 

Gad and Reuben, and the one-half tribe of 
Manasseh. But that is but a prophecy or 
picture of multitudes of professed Christians 
who are content to live upon the border or 
edge of the Christian life or experience, pre- 
ferring the commonplace in the religious life, 
with worldliness thrown in, to all the enjoys 
ments and pleasures which are to be found with 
a life hid with Christ in God. Now if you will 
turn to the third chapter of Paul's first letter 
to the church in Corinth, you will find there 
another picture given us of this class of Chris- 
tians: "And I, brethren, could not speak unto 
you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as 
unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk " 
(and I fear part of that was skimmed for 
fear of making some of them sick), "not with 
meat; for ye were not able to masti- 
cate it: nay, not even now are ye able; 
for ye are yet carnal." Like the two and 
one-half tribes these Corinthians were simply 
border-land Christians, dwelling on the border 
of the Promise Land, and therefore on the out- 
skirts of their full privileges in Christ Jesus. 

Now with this introduction before us, let us 
notice some thoughts for our consideration 
which I trust will be used of God to enable us 
to go over and possess our possession. 

1. Such Christians are concerned about the 
temporal more than spiritual. And if they 



102 LAND OF CANAAN 

are concerned about the spiritual it is rather 
spasmodic and not general. Gad and Reuben 
and the one-half tribe of Manasseh, you will 
notice did not say one single word to Moses 
as to the spiritual outlook in the land of 
Midian. They did not even seek the best 
place to rear their children. But they did ask 
the best place to raise their cattle. Exactly! 
While pastor of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at Corning, Kansas, I heard a certain 
congregational pastor say to his Sunday School 
superintendent who was presiding over a local 
Sunday School convention: "This man here 
use to think more of Duroc-Jersey hogs than 
he did the boys and girls where he lives." 
And that man replied: "That is so!" And, 
brothers, the sad thing about it all is: there 
are far too many who are now more Interested 
in breeding their cattle and hogs than they 
are in training their children. May God help 
us! 

You have not forgotten the story of Lot, 
have you ? Certainly not. As this world looks 
at things, Lot chose wisely. But what was 
the final outcome of the choice he made? If 
this were all, my brother, then we must ac- 
knowledge that Lot was a magnificent success. 
He got the richest land, and he managed to get 
into the best "society" to be found in Sodom; 
but we are told that "the men of the land were 



BORDER-LAND CHRISTIANS 103 

sinners before Jehovah exceedingly.' ' Ex- 
actly! God, wake us up! And Mrs. Lot? 
Poor woman! She became entangled by the 
wealth they possessed, and their own children 
were corrupted by the society of the city; 
which is generally the case. You 
nor I can take coal in our hands and not soil 
our fingers. God gave Lot two distinct warn- 
ings: (a) the destruction of his own home, and 
(b) the destruction of the city in which he 
lived. And yet with it all he and his loved 
ones were literally dragged from Sodom. But 
Mrs. Lot, with a last longing look, turned and 
gazed upon the city where she had left her 
heart behind her, and her gazing brought the 
judgment of the Almighty God upon her. 
Take warning, beloved! We can't trifle with 
God. And Lot? Poor man! He stands as an 
old man on the brink of the grave, facing eter- 
nity, blackened and ruined, and bent with sor- 
row and shame, his two daughters a living dis- 
grace. Oh, what a picture ! Mother, you may 
profess to be a Christian, but I want to say to 
you if you will let your daughter attend the 
balls and dances where passion is stirred and 
lust is fed, and permit her to dance herself 
into hell, as sure as I stand here today, God 
will hold you responsible for the damnation 
of that poor girl's lost soul. You may not like 
this sort of preaching, but I am going to, by 



104 LAND OF CANAAN 

God's help clear my skirts of your blood and 
your children's blood. 

I want to say here what I have said before: 
It is no sin to be rich. The sin lies in the fact 
of the man trusting in his riches instead of 
God. Now, by looking at a man 's bank account 
you cannot tell whether he is rich or not. If you 
could but see his heart, then you would be able 
to tell more about him. A rich woman while 
attending revival services was heard to cry 
out: "Oh, my God, is there no mercy for the 
rich?" George Peabody with all of his mil- 
lions was a Christian gentleman, and even in 
old age his riches became not a burden to him ; 
and, as far as I know, he died and went to 
heaven. Thank God! 

You may know Christ, my brother, as your 
personal Savior, and yet be conscious that 
you have left quite a bit of the soul's territory 
under the direct control of the carnal mind, 
which "is not subject to the law of God, neith- 
er indeed can be." To be justified is indeed 
great, and the one who states that we holiness 
preachers minify justification to make room 
for sanctification is misrepresenting us. But 
the soul's entire sanctification means the keep- 
ing of the soul not only in a sanctified relation 
with God, but also in a justified relation too. 
The 60ul's territory for the man to be at his 
beet, should be occupied by only one Master; 



BORDER-LAND CHRISTIANS 105 

and it is only when the soul is fully yielded to 
God in consecration that this is possible; for 
then is it that we look up into his face and 
cry from our heart's depth: 

"Thy will be done, 
Have thy way, Lord, have thy way; 
This with all my heart I say." 

Those of you who are familiar with Roman 
history will recall the old Roman senator who 
never rose to make a speech but what he would 
say in closing sentence: "Carthago est delen- 
da." Carthage must fall. And you will also 
recall how the appeal at first fell upon ears 
that were deaf to it, but after a little while 
the thought gripped the hearts of the Romans 
and Carthage was conquered. Ah, my broth- 
er, you can never be the man of God that he 
would have you be until every spiritual Car- 
thagenian of the soul is destroyed from your 
heart and the Lord Christ reigns supreme as 
your Lord and King. 

2. Such Christian's Influence is discouraging 
to aggressive Christian living. Was not this 
the thought Moses had in mind when he said 
to the two and one-half tribes: "Ye are apt to 
discourage the hearts of the people?" And 
there are many men and women, and young 
converts who have been kept back from en- 



106 LAND OF CANAAN 

tering into Canaan because of some border- 
land Christian bein£" satisfied to dwell on the 
other side of the Jordan feeding cattle, hogs, 
and sheep. Is it not a fact that, as a rule, 
such are rather a burden to the church in 
every campaign in which she engages in 
conflict with the enemy ? When the mat- 
ter of a revival is suggested, we have 
those who take the matter in rather a matter- 
of-fact-way, and treat it more or less indiffer- 
ently, with the result that this class of people 
generally is the pastor's or evangelist's field 
instead of his force upon whom he can rely? 
I recall but a few Sundays ago when I asked: 
"All who will pray twice daily for the meet- 
ing lift your hands, ' ' there was one good wom- 
an who said: "Brother Kelley, I did not lift 
my hand because I was fearful I would forget 
to pray, and I didn't want to promise and not 
do so." Exactly! I wonder how many souls 
she will lead to her Lord during such times? 
The story is told of a vessel being wrecked 
and sending out its S. 0. S., and another ves- 
sel receiving the message, when the captain 
was heard to say : ' ' There are lives there, it is 
true ; but I am too busy to save them : I must 
keep on my course." And he kept on his 
course. men and women of GTod, hear me! 
That man was dealing with lives which he 
should have saved; but you are dealing with 



BORDER-LAND CHRISTIANS 107 

immortal souls which may be lost on account 
of your indifference and carelessness. 

The church's mission is to save souls. That 
is why God gave it birth. I never have be- 
lieved that God ever intended the church to 
be turned into a movie theater, or a play 
house, or a bowling alley, or a place for world- 
ly pleasure and commercial life. But it is the 
borderland Christian who is apt to discourage 
the work of real vital godliness and take up 
with the attractions of that which appeals to 
the lower appetites and passions. 

3. Such Christians are the first to fall when 
tried. When Reuben and Gad and the one-half 
tribe of Manasseh returned to their families 
and flocks on the other side of the Jordan they 
became separated from the other tribes of Is- 
rael; and they were therefore out of spiritual 
touch and harmony with their religious life 
and experience. And, too, they were more ex- 
posed to the assaults of enemies. It has been 
proven over and over that a man is much safer 
in the Canaan than on the borderland. It is 
the man or woman living on the border fring- 
ing on both the wilderness and Canaan, who is 
more apt to go down under conflicts with the 
enemy, than the one who has crossed over and 
who is enjoying the fruits of the land, be- 
cause he has overcome the walled cities and 
routed the Anakim. : m 



108 LAND OF CANAAN 

We must recognize this truth: that testing 
times come to us all, churches and Christians. 
Neither church nor Christian is freei from 
temptations and trials. No matter how holy 
a man may be, he is never free from the as- 
saults of the devil. And that there are times 
when it costs a man something to be religious 
is a truth we cannot gainsay ; but it pays to be 
true. It pays! it pays! ! it pays I I ! I know 
that it pays! It is said that Constantine de- 
manded that every Christian holding office in 
the Roman empire under him should deny 
his Lord or give up his position. A number 
of the weak-kneed, borderland fellows did 
deny their Lord; but there were those, thank 
God, who refused to do so. And what was th? 
outcome? The Emperor at once dismissed dM 
from his service who had denied Christ, saying, 
"If you desert your Master, so will you de- 
sert me." And those who had stood true to 
their allegiance to Jesus Christ he continued 
in office. Ah, my brother ! the man Who stands 
firm for God and what God has done for his 
soul will win out every time. 

"It pays to serve Jesus; 
It pays every day." 

It is easy to be a Christian when all goes well ; 
isn't it? But it is when our faith is tried and 
put to the test that God wants us to prove to 
the world that there is such a thing as a posi- 



BORDER-LAND CHRISTIANS 109 

tive, vital reality in his saving and sanctifying 
power. Hallelujah! The world is hiding be- 
hind too many dead churches today, and we 
must be alive and on fire for God and route it 
from its hiding place. 

Now what is needed, my brothers, is a real, 
vital, living experience of full salvation in- 
wrought by the blessed Holy Ghost m his 
mighty sanctifying power. While a slave ship 
was unloading its human cargo, it was no- 
ticed there was one slave among the number 
who carried his head erect and his shoulders 
thrown back, walking as if he were still un- 
conquered. When inquiry was made it was 
learned that he was the son of an African king. 
Oh, ye men and women of God, hear me ! You 
and I are sons and daughters of a King. Hal- 
lelujah ! And as we go through life we have a 
right to shout and sing, with our heads held 
high and our shoulders thrown back, and with 
eyes aflame with Divine Fire, as the blood of 
Jesus keeps us pure and white. Oh, bless God ! 

"My Father is rich in houses and lands, 
He holdeth the wealth of the world in his hands ! 
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, 
His coffers are full, — he has riches untold. 

"A tent or a cottage, why should I care? 
They're building a palace for me over there! 
Tho ' exiled from home, yet still I may sing : 
All glory to God, I'm a child of a King." 



CHAPTER X 

In God's Service 

"Have I not commanded thee?" Joshua 1:9. 

The book of Joshua teaches us many valu- 
able lessons respecting service for God. You 
will remember that in the earlier history of 
Joshua to be found in one of the five Books 
of Moses, he is introduced to us as the servant 
of Moses. He, like every other man, had to 
serve and to learn obedience before he could 
command. And it is ever so. Our own Gen- 
eral Pershing did not reach the high position 
he occupies in the American army all at once, 
but he first learned obedience as every soldier 
is required to do; and he learned obedience be- 
cause he knew what it was to serve others, as 
every soldier must know. And when Mr. Wil- 
son needed a man to lead our forces upon the 
blood stained battle fields of France and Flan- 
ders, his eyes fell upon General Pershing, and 
we have seen that Mr. Wilson made no mistake 
in this particular. Moses, himself, first learned 
obedience in the University of the Desert ere 
he became the leader of the people of God from 



IN GOD'S SERVICE 111 

the land of bondage. But when we compare 
the two, Joshua and Moses, we are to learn 
that Joshua stands foT a higher service than 
that of Moses ; for Moses represented the law, 
but Joshua represented in a most beautiful 
manner the gospel ; and the service of the gos- 
pel is always higher than the law. And even 
in the Christian life we find that the service 
rendered God today by the fully sanctified is 
much freer, more noble and more effective than 
the service given him from the heart or life 
that is still in the wilderness state. 

Now this is clearly shown in the lesson we 
gather from the preceeding sermon on "Bor- 
derland Christians." In that message, |you 
will recollect, we saw how the two and one- 
half tribes went so far as to enter the land of 
Canaan and help the other tribes subdue and 
conquer some of the enemies of God, and then 
returned to their flocks and possessions on the 
other side of the Jordan; all of which teach 
us, as already suggested, that there are those 
Christians who deliberately choose their in- 
heritance on the borders of the world ; but who 
do some service for the church, and some serv- 
ice for Christ. They will candidly tell you of 
Canaan and its rich soil and its many fruits; 
but they do not wish to make it their exclusive 
abode. They prefer the rich pastures of Gil- 
ead, and they do not think it best to require 



112 LAND OF CANAAN 

themselves or their families to go through the 
self-denial, and privations, and sacrifices such 
as the dwellers in Canaan have made. 

I say that there are thousands of professing 
Christians who are living on the east side of 
the Jordan, and their lives are being blighted 
by the influences with which they are sur- 
rounded; and yet there are those among them 
who may, and some do, work for the Master; 
but they find it more or less a burden instead 
of being a joy. The fact, my brother, is that 
there is no place so dangerous as on the borders 
of the world and the threshold of the Kingdom 
of God. Here is to be found Satan's battle 
ground and the place of extreme peril to the 
Christian man or woman. 

But there is a beautiful contrast I want you 
to see. It is this: the picture of the inherit- 
ance of the Levites, in their many cities scat- 
tered throughout the land of Canaan. Now in 
all this we have a lesson of a service that is 
consecrated to God. Not a service that is con- 
secrated to some specific calling or field, but 
consecrated for time and eternity to God him- 
self. The Levites stand pre-eminently as spec- 
ial types of service, and such a service is a 
service that springs from a complete separa- 
tion from the world, the flesh and the devil; 
and a full or complete dedication of ourselves 
to God in a definite, positive, complete conse- 



IN GOD'S SERVICE 113 

cration once for all. You will recall that the 
Levites were substituted for the first-born 
among the children of Israel; and it is in this 
you will see they represent in a very emphatic 
way the thought or idea of redemption, the 
Lord himself being their inheritance, and the 
choicest citiete scattered throughout Canaan 
were given them as their permanent abode. 
Amen. There was not a district throughout 
the entire land but what the Levites possessed 
the choicest cities therein; nor was there a 
tribe but what they in a most peculiar sense 
shared in their inheritance, and in return 
"diffused among them the hallowed influence 
of their presence." 

Now all this is given for our encouragement, 
for from the lesson we gather that God 
wants the principle of a full and complete con- 
secration and the life of holiness shown forth 
in every part of one's Christian life. And, as 
the late Dr. A. B. Simpson puts it, "he sent the 
Levites through every part of Canaan and lo- 
cated them among all the tribes of Israel that 
there might be no region where this supreme 
thought of dedication to himself would not bft 
constantly set forth in their example." Now, 
do not misunderstand me. While I do not be- 
lieve God to be responsible for the removal of 
a holiness preacher from one charge to another 
because he dares declare the whole council of 



114 LAND OF CANAAN 

God, yet he does make use of these very meth- 
ods to dissemminate the doctrine and exper- 
ience of holiness of heart and life in other plac- 
es where it would not be spread if these remov- 
als did not occur. 

There is also another thought here for our 
consideration. "When the soul of the believer 
is fully separated from the world, the flesh and 
the devil, and completely yielded to God, God 
will bring us into the largest inheritance; and 
like the Levites we shall possess our posses- 
sions in the midst of the other tribes and in the 
very choicest cities of the land. And when the 
soul realizes this truth as a blessed experience 
then does it understand more fully and clearly 
what the apostle meant when he said: "All 
things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or 
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or 
things present, or things to come, for ye are 
Christ's and Christ is God's." Hallelujah! Is 
not that wonderful! Oh, hallelujah! 

And, again, we have this truth: You and I 
can serve God in every part of our life, and in 
every situation or occupation where we may 
be placed. The Levites served God, it is true, 
at Shiloh, but they also served him in the cit- 
ies where they were placed. It is a mighty 
poor Christian who cannot serve God in his 
business; and before I would be in a 
business in which I could not serve 



IN GOD'S SERVICE 115 

God I would get out of it. And it 
is a poorer Christian who cannot serve 
God in the home. We will acknowledge that 
this is hard to do at times especially when 
those who should be lined up with you are not, 
but, blessed be God ! God can and will see us 
through. That poor nurse girl may be training 
a prince in Israel for the church and the king- 
dom. Who knows? The servant in your home, 
though toiling most diligently, may be doing 
God's highest service in her ministry to your 
home. You may not understand it now, but 
nevertheless it may be true. Have you ever 
thought of it, beloved, that the ox-goad with 
which Shamgar slew the six-hundred was as 
sacred as David's harp with which he played 
before Saul? Some one expresses it most 
beautifully when he writes: "It is the glory 
of the sun that it can illuminate a crumb of 
broken glass until it shines like costly bril- 
liants. And it is the highest testimony to 
Christ when we can reflect his image from the 
most trivial and commonplace things of our 
daily life." Amen. 

We must not forget that the choicest posses- 
sions in the land of Canaan are to be had by 
loyal and brave and faithful service. This 
thought is very clearly brought out in the les- 
son which we have recorded in the seventeenth 
chapter of Joshua. It is where Ephraim and 



116 LAND OF CANAAN 

Manasseh, after receiving their allottment from 
Joshua comes before the princely leader of 
God's hosts and asks why it is that only one 
lot was accorded them as they were a great 
people. Listen to Joshua's reply. "If thou 
be a great people get thee up to the forest, and 
cut down for thyself there in the land of the 
Perrizzites and of the Rephaim; since the hill 
country of Ephraim is too narrow for thee/' 

And this is what God is still saying to you 
and me, beloved. If we feel that our sphere is 
limited; if we feel thart,' there are , greater 
reaches for us in the divine life of holiness ; then 
we should recognize that there are other op- 
portunities offered us, and if in this world of 
sin and sorrow we should feel as if opportun- 
ities are not afforded us, then we should make 
our opportunities; for we have before us the 
forests to be cut away and the hill country to 
be possessed. Divine power, my brother, will 
turn the most formidable difficulty into an oc- 
casion of victory in the name of Jesus Christ 
Hallelujah! This has been tested time and 
time again, and it has never yet failed. And 
we see how true this was in the lives of such 
men as A. B. Simpson, George Mueller, Hudson 
Taylor and others. 

All around there are fields and cities to be 
occupied, and by occupying them we can show 
forth the greatest spiritual heroism. Joseph 



IN GOD'S SERVICE 117 

was great as a slave. Whence, it was easy for 
him to be great when he came to the throne of 
Egypt. Saul of Tarsus was great as a perse- 
cutor, and when he became a Christian his 
greatness did not diminish but increased, and 
he went into the grave leaving the greatest 
record behind of any of the apostles; and his 
life and writings have done more to shape and 
mould Christianity than that of any other man 
outside of Jesus Christ. 

For each of us who are living in Canaan 
there is the most ample room among the wooded 
heights and the hill countries. Some years ago 
while I was residing in Birmingham, Alabama, 
the Central Railroad of Georgia running from 
Savannah to Birmingham, was completed. I 
walked a short distance over its newly built 
road-bed, a portion of which was made of iron- 
ore dug from the hills surrounding the city.. 
Now this ore did not come from the surface,, 
but it came from down among the rocks; and 
just as the rocks are hiding away iron, and 
silver, and copper, and gold, so you and I will 
find that in the most difficult situations with 
which we are being confronted there are to- 
be found the most precious ores and gems of 
reward for our service in the kingdom. 

There is a certain law of the natural world 
applying to the property of water which can 
always be depended upon; for, as you are 



118 LAND OF CANAAN 

aware, water seeks its lowest depths to find its 
way to the deepest channels. And so it is in 
the spiritual world. The more grace we pos- 
sess, the more love and power we have, the 
greater passion for souls about us we have; 
and like the Son of man we will seek to save 
that which is lost. men and women of God ! 
this is a service to which all of us are called, 
and to which very few, I am sorry to say, are 
responding. The sanctified soul should never 
be guilty of holding aloof from the sinful. The 
fact is, those who have become so good and 
pure that they feel above such work know not 
the spirit of Jesus Christ; and "he that hath 
not the Spirit of Christ is none of his.'* The 
more like Christ we are, the more like him will 
we be. 

One of the first things we have giv$n us in 
the book of Joshua is the salvation of the har- 
lot Rahab. Her condition was deplorable; 
her character was base, but when the spies 
came to her house she received them kindly 
and treated them graciously, and at the last 
saved their lives. And in return for it all they 
told her what to do so that in the capture of 
Jericho she and her house might be spared. 
She was to hang, you will recollect, a crimson 
cord from the window; and in that same cord 
we see a picture of salvation through the crim- 
son tide that flows from Calvary's hill. 



IN GOD'S SERVICE 119 

This beautiful lesson may not merely be ap- 
plied in the manner we have done, but it is al- 
so a foreshadowing of the gospel age and the 
great salvation that is being offered to every 
man and woman and child in the universe. But 
there is even still a deeper lesson to be found 
in the incident. For as Rahab 's life was spared 
and she was received into the very household 
of Israel, and became an honored name in the 
ancestry of our Lord, so is God still calling 
men and women into his kingdom from the 
lowest ranks of sin and degradation. Thank 
God that this is so! 

Oh, ye men and women of God! 

"Go with the name of Jesus to the dying, 
And speak that Name in all its living power; 

Why should thy fainting heart grow chill and weary! 
Canst not thou watch with me one little hour?" 



CHAPTER XI 

The Danger of Backsliding 

1 'But ye have not hearkened unto my voice: 
why have ye done this?" Judges 2:2. 

In the lesson which we have read, we have 
presented to us a sad, sad story or picture, — 
the story or picture of Israel's backsli dings 
and turning away from God. As long as Joshua 
was alive it appeared to have been an easy 
thing for the Israelites to serve Jehovah, but 
after his death it was not long ere they turned 
away from Jehovah and attached themselves 
unto strange gods. And the record gives us a 
picture that is really sadder than their back- 
slidings in the wilderness. Their unbelief and 
rebellion as recorded in the Book of Numbers 
cannot compare to their declension at this 
time. Their unbelief while in the wilderness 
retarded their progress for only a generation, 
but now they are to be plunged for hundreds of 
years into bondage and misery and shame on 
account of their sin. That the soul, even after 
it has found God in the forgiviness of sins, can 
go back to the beggarly elements of the world 
is true. The old Calvinistic doctrine of "once 



THE DANGER OF BACKSLIDING 121 

jn grace always in grace " is as dangerous as 
it is false; and it is false because it cannot be 
supported by God's word. And when the once 
enlightened soul does thus yield to temptation 
and go back to the beggarly elements of the 
world, it suffers loss; and its progress is re- 
tarded for many, many years. 

Then, again, it is even possible for the sanc- 
tified soul to lose its grip on God and turn 
away from him. With shame I confess it ; but 
I know this to be true, and such backsliding 
is more inexcusable than for the regenerated 
soul to go off into sin again; and it is more 
apt to lead to more terrible consequences. How 
many there are today who once knew this way 
but are now without the blessing. And some 
of them, be it said to their shame and to our 
sorrow, are now opposing the very truth and 
experience they once preached, testified to and 
enjoyed. It would seem that this is the class 
the apostle has in mind when writing in the 
Book of Hebrews, "Now the just shall live by 
faith ; but if any man draw back, my soul shall 
have no pleasure in him." 

The picture is dark. After all the divine mani- 
festations of God's presence with Joshua, and 
after all the victories he won at Jericho, Beth- 
horon and other places, and after all the kings 
of Canaan had been defeated and subdued and 
their land divided among the people of God, 



122 LAND OF CANAAN 

and not withstanding Joshua's parting words 
at Shechem, Israel in the third generation went 
into idolatry and sin, forsaking the covenant 
of Jehovah, and became subject to the very peo- 
ples whom they had formerly subdued. 

We see history repeating itself in primitive 
Christianity ! It is here we have a parallel pic- 
ture presented us. The apostolic age of the 
Church was known for its zeal, and faith, and 
power, and victory; but the sad thing of it all 
is, in about the same length of time as we see 
in the former picture, there came a declension 
and backsliding. Divisions occurred, conform- 
ity to the spirit of the world crept in; and a 
certain Emperor of the Eoman Empire accept- 
ed Christianity without being converted or re- 
generated, and he soon mingled the old idola- 
trous worship of images with the spirit of 
Christianity, which resulted in the Scarlet Wo- 
man of Roman Catholicism as we have it to- 
day. 

But that is not all. I wish it were. Where do 
we find Protestantism today? Do we see it 
manifesting the power and faith and healing 
as did the early Church? Do we see souls around 
its altars being saved and sanctified? No, Not 
Instead we find the lack of spiritual power and 
in its place we have the spirit of commercial- 
ism and worldliness. And we find to a great 
extent that it has so drifted away from the 



THE DANGER OF BACKSLIDING 123 

Fundamentals of the Book that it is denying 
the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ, and the mir- 
aculous, and accepting in their place theology 
with the "made in Germany'' stamp upon it 
which, above all else, was responsible to a large 
extent for the world war and the defeat of the 
German nation. And as sure as Germany went 
down to defeat, so will any church that dares 
to cast Jesus Christ over-board go down to an 
ignominious defeat. It ought to ! 

But shall we stop there? Let us get a little 
closer home. What do we find among the holi- 
ness people of today? I am not finding fault, 
nor am I offering a spirit of criticism ; but well 
do I remember when Beverly Carradine swept 
over this land as a flame of holy fire preaching 
full salvation and scores and hundreds — yea, 
thousands were swept into the experience of 
entire sanctification, and holiness camps were 
established in many, many places. But where 
are all those camps today, camps that used to 
shine and glow and burn for full salvation? 
We have numbers of camps, it is true. But do 
all of them have the old time power they once 
had? It looks to this preacher that what we 
need among us today is an Inskip, or a Mc- 
Donald, or a Wood to go up and down the land 
crying out mightily against the toning down, 
and the spirit of popularity that there is to be 
found in some quarters. If this preacher knows 



124 LAND OF CANAAN 

what he is saying, it looks to him that the 
great need of the Twentieth Century Holiness 
Movement is to get from God the Nineteenth 
Century power that our camps used to have, 
when souls were reached by the hundreds. 
When this takes place the holiness camps 
(some of them) and some holiness evangelists 
will no longer be popular among the world and 
the cold formal church. Holiness is not popular 
and holiness will never be popular except with 
the chosen few. Mr. Wesley preaching in one 
place on perfect love made this record in his 
journal: "I preached on Christian perfection 

at and was surprised that it met with 

no opposition.' ' I am not surprised that Mr. 
Wesley was surprised. ye men and women in 
the holiness ranks, let me plead with you that 
we get on our faces before God and ask him to 
make us hotter than ever ! Amen. The time is 
short. It will not be long ere we hear the mid- 
night cry; "Go ye out to meet him.". May 
God help us to be red hot and on fire for him 
when he does come! Amen. 

I have drawn dark pictures, have I not ? But, 
thank God, there is infinite mercy with him, 
and the infinite resources of his grace and pow- 
er are sufficient to restore the backslidden 
soul into his favor again. Thank God that I 
know this to be true! But the danger is not 
less real or the warning any less solemn. 



THE DANGER OF BACKSLIDING 125 

It is in the New Testament epistles where 
the sanctified experience is made prominent, 
that we also have the warning given us against 
the possibility of backsliding. In John's Epis- 
tle we read: "The anointing which ye receiv- 
ed of him abideth in you." And in the next 
breath the beloved disciple says; "Now, little 
children, abide in him. ,, We hear Peter say: 
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly 
out of temptation,' ' but he also writes: "Be- 
loved, beware lest ye also be led away with 
the error of the wicked and fall from your 
steadfastness.' ' In the Epistle to the Hebrews 
we find flashing before us a most terrific pic- 
ture of the soul that has once been enlightened, 
and tasted of the heavnly gift, becoming an 
apostate. If you will make a study of the 
epistles of Paul you will find how faithfully he 
warns the saints of God against the possibility 
of backsliding; and even Christ himself warns 
the soul against this danger. 

Those of you who have read Bunyan's mas- 
terpiece will recall that when the pilgrims were 
introduced to the "Palace Beautiful", they 
were shown many beautiful and striking pic- 
tures. On the one side were visions of grace 
and glory, and on the other side the prisoner 
of despair in the cage of iron, and the awful 
dream of the judgment day. And as Christian 
came from the palace he was heard to say: 



126 LAND OF CANAAN 

"These things make me both hope and fear." 

That there is real danger of the soul's back- 
sliding none of us will doubt; and there are 
too many of us who know from sad experience 
that such a possibility is a real fact. Beloved, 
listen! The sanctification of spirit, soul and 
body, and the life of holiness is not a state of 
infallibility, but it is a state of utter depend- 
ence upon God and an abiding communion and 
fellowship with him. It is he that "abideth in 
him (that) sinneth not," for "apart from me 
ye can do nothing." And the most holy saint 
will make a most desperate failure whenever 
he or she trusts in his or her own strength. O 
ye holy men and women of God, let us ever 
abide in him! Let us stick faithfully to the 
"Word, and walk in perfect obedience to his 
law and commandments. We need not fear 
while he holds our hand and leads us safely 
o'er the way, and makes us to "walk upon high 
places." Bless God! Amen. 

That there were reasons for Israel's back- 
slidings is very evident, but this does not ex- 
cuse them. But we will look on some of the 
causes. (1) The first of these seems to have 
been the lack of a real, vital experience and a 
proper knowledge of God. The very language 
in which their backslidings is recorded advanc- 
es the thought that their piety or religious 
views arose from the influence their leaders 



THE DANGER OF BACKSLIDING 127 

had over their lives and the generation as- 
sociated with him. 

Have you ever thought of the actual num- 
ber of persons whose religious life and exper- 
ience reflect the life or influence of others? It 
was Joash, the young king, who served Jeho- 
vah faithfully as long as Jehoida the priest 
lived, but when Jehoida died it was not very 
long before th(v king turned to the evil around 
him. So we find those today who have much 
manifest goodness under the influence of cer- 
tain teachers and preachers upon whom they 
ha^ve anchored their faith, and in the times of 
deep religious excitement seem to "get some- 
where" in the matter of their religious exper- 
ience; but sooner or later it is to be seen that 
much of such an experience is seated in the 
emotional nature, with the result that the first 
time their feeling is not as rich and joyous as 
they anticipated, they get down in the mouth, 
become blue and "lose out." When favorable 
influences are withdrawn from such souls and 
they are no longer buoyed up by friends and 
upheld by helpful surroundings, but are met 
by opposition and persecutions and uncongen- 
ial companions, then it is that they are apt to 
"fall away". But, if on the other hand their 
soul is anchored by a vital, living faith to a 
vital, living Christ, even tlhough they may 
face oppositon and misunderstanding, they will 



128 LAND OF CANAAN 

stand steadfast for the truth, and in the will 
of God, and this though loved ones and friends 
go against them. Blessed be his name forev- 
er! 

Joshua's life was one of victory. This is 
very evident and the secret of it lies in the 
fact that Joshua had learned to stand alone 
with no one to lean upon but Jehovah. You 
will recall when the spies returned with their 
unfavorable report that Joshua and Caleb were 
the two who stood out against the majority. 
Joshua stood firm for the right and God; and 
when the multitudes later followed him his 
purpose was not affected by either their faith- 
fulness or their faithlessness. 

And, my brother, this is the secret of the 
victory of every wholly sanctified soul. You 
must know the truth and commit yourself 
eternally to it, even though friends forsake 
you and loved ones criticise and misunderstand 
you. It is a lonely way that you and I are 
called to go but it is the way Jesus walked. 
Christ's followers, without exception, forsook 
him the night of the betrayal and fled. He, I 
say, went this way, and this is the way that 
he is calling you and me to go. Will we do it? 
O beloved, say yes! And to take this way it 
means, though we may be called upon to die, 
we must be persuaded that we can not afford 
to surrender to the enemy. And it is essential 



THE DANGER OP BACKSLIDING 129 

that you know the Lord for yourself and not 
for another and, although every man and wo- 
man and child now in the way should turn 
back, that you are going through. Amen. If 
you have thus learned Christ, the presence or 
absence of others will not affect your life or 
experience. The sooner we learn this lesson 
the better it will be for us. Amen. 

(2) There is a second reason for Israel's 
backslidings : their failure to do a thorough 
work in their separation from their foes. Ex- 
actly! And right here lies the secret of many 
failures today. Listen! The children of Benja- 
min failed to drive out the Jebusites, and Man- 
asseh did not drive out the inhabitants of 
Bethshean, nor did Ephraim drive out the 
Canaan-ites in Gezer. In some cases the Ca- 
naanites were put under tribute to Israel; but 
they were not driven out. See? God had told 
his people to drive them out. 

The soul that continues to harbor the enemy 
of God within (the carnal mind) will eventual- 
ly go down in an ignominious defeat if it is not 
careful. 

But worse still. "We find Israel entering in- 
to unholy alliance with the nations around 
them, and they even went so far as to take their 
daughters to become their wives; and gave 
their daughters to their sons, "and they ser- 
ved other gods." Exactly! It is usually the 



130 LAND OF CANAAN 

case. Just here is where many a Christian man 
or woman has fallen. Can you tell me why it 
is that a sanctified man will fall in love with 
an unsaved, worldly woman and marry her? 
And will you please tell me why it is that a 
sanctified young woman will fall in love with 
an unsaved, ungodly young man and marry 
him? They do it, — but why? "Be ye not un- 
equally yoked with unbelievers.' ' 

As we read this dark picture we get a 
glimpse of the development of sin in the soul 
of so many, which at one time seemed to have 
been wholly yielded to God. Is it not due to the 
fact that they lack courage to deal bravely and 
firmly with that which is wrong? Their busi- 
ness interests will suffer if they stop selling to- 
bacco. So they compromise and refuse to 
walk in the light, and then go down in defeat. 
Then, by and by, the social element will enter 
in. Families that were once separated from 
unholy and ungodly alliances are now given 
to the playing of ' 'Flinch' ' and kindred games; 
and even the father and mother retain their sep- 
aration. Yet they are guilty of letting their 
children mingle with the Canaanites. 

ye men and women of God, let us be care- 
ful ! Let us avoid the very appearance of evil ! 
This is commanded us in the Book. We can not 
knowingly compromise with any form of sin 
and still retain our experience of sanctifica- 



THE DANGER OF BACKSLIDING 131 

tion. It is impossible. We cannot even com- 
promise with father or son, mother or daugh- 
ter, husband or wife, and retain our experience 
of a pure heart and a holy life. Be careful ! Be 
true to God though the heavens fall! 



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